Delaware  Ship  Canal 


TO  CONNECT 


DELAWARE  RIVER  AND  CHESAPEAKE  BAY 

SPEECHES 

AT  CELEBRATED  INTEREST ATEf  BANQUET 


By  Wilmington  Board  of  Trade 

o • 

Wilmington,  Del.,  Jan.  8,  1904 


INDEX  TO  SPEECHES.  \ 

Page  ^ 

Hon.  George  Gray,  Wilmington,  Toastmaster,  Introductory  Remarks 5 f 

Hon.  Anthony  Higgins,  Wilmington,  Address,  “Mutual  Relations  Between  ^ 

Our  Neighbors  and  Ourselves” 7 i 

Hpn.  Charles  Emory  Smith,  Philadelphia,  Address,  “An  Aid  to  the  National  A 

' Defense”  ? , . .13  \ 

Alfred  0.  Crozier,  Esq.,  Wilmington,  Address,  “The  Delaware  Ship  Canal”.  .18  f 

Blanchard  Randall,  Esq.,  Baltimore,  Address,  “A  Commercial  Necessity”.  . . .27  f 

Representative  John  F.  Lacey,  of  Iowa,  Remarks  29  4 

Representative  John  Lamb,  of  Virginia,  Remarks  31  4 

Representative  Jones,  of  Virginia,  Remarks  ...33  i 

John  Cadwalader,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  Remarks  35  j 

Representative  Gardner,  of  New  Jersey,  Remarks  36  \ 

Hon.  L.  Irving  Handy,  Wilmington,  Remarks 38  f 

List  of  Those  at  Banquet  With  Committees  40  f 

Greater  Wilmington,  by  Alfred  0.  Crozier,  Esq 42  ^ 


write,  Delaware  Ship  Canal  Executive  Committee, 

WILMINGTON,  DELAWARE. 


SUNDAY  STAR  PRINT,  WIL.,  DEL. 


PC  N N S 

v/| 


I*  MILES 

CANAL 

SAVE 

400M/LE& 

on 

40  HOUMA 


ROUTE  OF  PROPOSED 

DELAWARE 
SHIP  CANAL 


DELAWARE  SHIP  CANAL  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

(By  Board  of  Trade.) 

Chairman,  ALFRED  O.  CROZIER, 

L,awyer  and  President  Cement  Products  Co. 

Vice-Chairman,  THOMAS  H.  SAVERY, 

President  Pusey  & Jones  Co. 

Treasurer,  JOHN  S.  ROSSELL, 

Trust  Officer,  Security  Trust  Co. 

Secretary,  DANIEL  W.  TAYLOR, 

Secretary  Board  of  Trade. 

T.  COLEMAN  DuPONT, 

President  DuPont  Powder  Co. 

ALFRED  D.  WARNER, 

President  Charles  Warner  Co. 

GEORGE  W.  SPARKS, 

State  Senator  and  Secretary  and  Treasurer  Dea  Milling  Co. 

WILLIAM  W.  LOBDELL, 

President  Jvobdell  Car  Wheel  Co. 

WILLIAM  B.  CLERK, 

President  Continental  leather  Co. 

HOWARD  T.  WALLACE, 

President  Diamond  State  Steel  Co. 

CHARLES  D.  BIRD, 

Mayor  and  Superintendent  Wilmington  Transfer  Co. 

JOSIAH  MARVEL, 

Dawyer. 

DAVID  C.  REID, 

President  Docal  Plant  U.  S.  Shipbuilding  Co. 

WILLIAM  LAWTON, 

President  Wilmington  Board  of  Trade  and  Merchant. 


WILMINGTON,  DELAWARE. 

Object: 

An  open,  free  Ship  Canal  connecting  Delaware  River  and  Chesapeake 
Bay;  to  be  built  by  United  States  Government,  for  national  defense  and  com- 
merce. Co-operation  invited.  Inquiries  answered. 


1 


Delaware  Ship  Canal 

to  Connect 

Delaware  River  and  Chesapeake  Bay. 
SPEECHES 

At  Celebrated  Inter-State  Banquet 

By  WILMINGTON  BOARD  OF  TRADE, 

\\ 

Wilmington,  Del.,  Jan.  8,  1904. 


THE  most  notable  gathering  of 
men  ever  assembled  in  Dela- 
ware attended  the  banquet 

of  the  Wilmington  Board  of 

Trade  on  the  evening  of  January  8,  1904. 

The  sole  subject  discussed  was  the  pro- 
posed Ship  Canal  across  the  Delaware 
Peninsula,  to  connect  Delaware  River 
and  Chesapeake  Bay;  the  route  to  be 
that  of  the  present  Chesapeake  and  Dela- 
ware Canal,  a large  interest  in  which  has 
been  owned  by  the  Federal  Government 
for  nearly  a century.  It  is  proposed  that 
Congress  shall  appropriate  money  to  ac- 
quire the  other  interests  and  then  con- 
vert the  canal  into  an  open  and  free 
waterway  deep  enough  for  the  largest 
ocean  vessels  and  battleships.  This  has 
been  recommended  by  government  engi- 
neers, and  by  the  board  of  distinguished 
men  appointed  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  authority  of  an  Act  of 
Congress,  to  “facilitate  the  national  de- 
fence and  commerce.” 

After  official  borings  and  surveys,  the 
engineers  of  the  War  Department  have 
reported  that  this  canal  can  be  built,  a 


little  over  thirteen  miles  in  length,  for 
eight  million  dollars,  which  is  “less  than 
it  costs  to  build  and  equip  one  battle- 
ship.” 

The  water  route  from  Baltimore  to 
New  England  ports,  and  to  Europe,  will 
be  reduced  two  hundred  miles  by  this 
ship  canal,  saving  four  hundred  miles,  or 
about  two  days,  on  each  round  trip,  and 
avoiding  the  dangerous  Virginia  capes. 

Atlantic  coast  states,  north  and  south, 
are  all  interested  in  this  improvement, 
as  well  as  the  interior  states  which  find 
an  outlet  on  the  Atlantic  coast  for  their 
products,  while  the  nation  as  a whole 
demands  this  ship  canal  as  an  aid  to  the 
defense  of  Washington,  and  for  naval 
strategic  purposes. 

The  eight  thousand  registered  boats  on 
the  Chesapeake  desire  admission,  by  this 
safe  canal  route,  to  the  markets  along 
the  Delaware,  multiplying  the  transpor- 
tation facilities  and  commerce  and  aid- 
ing in  the  great  industrial  development 
expected  to  ensue. 

At  the  November  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  Alfred  O.  Crozier,  Esq.,  of  Wil- 


T 


4 


mington,  one  of  the  members,  called  at- 
tention to  the  incalculable  benefit  this 
ship  canal  would  be  to  the  city,  and  to 
the  State  of  Delaware,  by  attracting  in- 
dustries and  commerce,  and  also  to  the 
States  of  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey, 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  its  impera- 
tive necessity  for  national  defense  and  to 
protect  the  National  Capital.  He  sug- 
gested that  the  Board  revive  the  project, 
which  had  long  been  under  consideration, 
and  organize  an  active  movement  to  se- 
cure its  completion.  He  was  invited  to 
address  a special  meeting  of  the  Board  on 
the  subject.  The  matter  finally  took  the 
form  of  this  great  Inter-State  Banquet. 

There  were  present  a large  number  of 
United  States  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives, and  many  other  distinguished  men 
from  the  five  States  on  these  two  water- 
ways. Those  from  Washington  came  on 
a special  car,  escorted  by  Delaware’s  dis- 
tinguished members  of  Congress,  and  by 
the  President  and  a Committee  of  the 
Board. 

The  visiting  guests  were  all  entertain- 
ed at  the  private  homes  of  the  promi- 
nent citizens  of  Wilmington,  and  they 
had  an  opportunity  of  enjoying  the  far- 
famed  private,  as  well  as  public,  hos- 
pitality of  the  people  of  Delaware.  The 
list  of  those  in  attendance  is  printed 
elsewhere. 

Rt.  Rev.  Leighton  Coleman,  Bishop  of 
Delaware,  in  most  earnest  words,  invoked 
the  Divine  Blessing,  at  the  opening  of  the 
Banquet,  and  at  the  conclusion,  President 
William  Lawton,  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
called  the  meeting  to  order  and  intro- 
duced Judge  George  Gray  of  Wilming- 
ton, as  toastmaster. 

After  appropriate  words  of  cordial  wel- 
come, and  warmly  endorsing  the  Ship 
Canal  project,  Judge  Gray  introduced, 
respectively,  the  following  four  regular 
speakers,  who,  in  responding  to  the 
toasts  assigned  to  them,  eloquently  ad- 


vocated the  building  of  the  Ship  Canal: 
Hon.  Anthony  Higgins,  of  Wilmington, 

“The  Mutual  Relations  Between  Our 
Neighbors  and  Ourselves.” 

Hon.  Charles  Emory  Smith,  of  Phila- 
delphia, “An  Aid  to  the  National  De- 
fense.” 

Alfred  O.  Crozier,  Esq.,  of  Wilmington, 
“The  Delaware  Ship  Canal.” 

Blanchard  Randall,  Esq.,  President  of 
National  Board  of  Trade,  Baltimore,  “A 
Commercial  Necessity.” 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  addresses, 
Judge  Gray  called  on  a number  of  the 
guests,  among  who  were  Representatives 
Lacey,  of  Iowa;  Lamb  and  Jones,  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  Gardener,  of  New  Jersey;  and 
on  John  Cadwalader,  Esq.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  Hon.  L.  Irving  Handy,  of  Wil- 
mington. All  promised  loyal  and  hearty 
support  to  the  project. 

Every  important  business  interest  in 
this  city  was  represented  at  the  Banquet, 
and  prominent  men  were  present  from  all 
parts  of  Delaware,  indicating  that  the 
people  of  this  State  are  united  in  their 
support  of  the  Ship  Canal  enterprise  and 
will  earnestly  co-operate  in  carrying  it 
to  a successful  conclusion. 

Invocation  by  Bishop  Coleman. 

“Almighty  and  Merciful  God,  the 
Bountiful  Bestower  of  every  good  and 
perfect  gift,  we  thank  Thee  for  all 
Thy  goodness,  and  especially  for  this  por- 
tion of  Thy  bounty.  We  pray  Thee  that 
Thou  wilt  sanctify  it  to  Thy  honor  and 
glory  and  to  our  own  comfort  and  useful- 
ness. 

“Bless,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  President 
of  these  United  States,  the  Governor  of 
this  Commonwealth,  the  Mayor  of  this 
City,  and  all  others  in  authority  and  all 
under  authority;  enabling  them  to  use 
what  is  given  to  them  of  power  and  au- 
thority wisely  and  well,  and  that  the 


JUDGE  GEORGE  GRAY. 


U.  S.  Senator 
J.  FRANK  AEEEE, 
Delaware. 


U.  S.  Senator 

E.  heiseer  baee, 

Delaware. 


HON.  HENRY  A.  HOUSTON, 
Representative  in  Congress,  Delaware. 


WIEEIAM  EAWTON, 

President  of  the  Wilmington  Hoard  of  Trade. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/delawareshipcanaOOwilm 


C-  o v -y 


O 


people  may  live  in  obedience  to  Thy  law 
and  in  harmony  one  with  another. 

“Bless  the  members  of  the  Senate  and 
the  House  of  Representatives,  in  Con- 
gress assembled.  Order  and  direct  all 
their  consultations  and  actions,  so  that 
they  may  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
people  and  the  good  name  of  the  Repub- 
lic. 

“Bless,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  members 
of  this  Board  of  Trade  and  all  the  busi- 
ness people  of  this  city,  and  grant  that 
they  may  ever  conduct  their  affairs  with 
honesty  and  fidelity,  mindful  one  of  an- 
other. 

“Hear  us,  we  beseech  Thee,  in  these  our 
supplications  and  prayers,  and  grant  us 
whatsoever  else  Thou  mayest  deem  to  be 
needful  and  convenient;  and  so  help  us 
to  live  together  in  this  world,  in  Thy 
holy  faith  and  fear  and  love,  that,  in  the 
world  to  come,  we  may  have  life  ever- 
lasting, through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 
Amen.” 

The  After  Dinner  Speeches. 

President  William  Lawton,  of  the 
Wilmington  Board  of  Trade,  introducing 
Judge  Gray,  said: 

“As  President  of  this  organization,  I 
greet  you.  It  affords  me  very  great 
pleasure  to  introduce  the  toastmaster  of 
the  evening,  our  eminent  fellow -citizen, 
the  Honorable  George  Gray.”  (Prolonged 
applause  and  cheers.) 

INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS 
By 

— Hon.  George  Gray,  of  Wilmington, 
Toastmaster. 

Gentlemen  and  Members  of  the  Board 
. of  Trade  of  the  City  of  Wilmington:  The 
position  to  which  I have  been  called  by 
your  favor  devolves  upon  me  the  very 
pleasant  duty  of  extending  your  welcome 
to  the  guests  who  honor  us  to-night  by 
their  presence.  We  are  unfeignedly  glad 


to  see  them,  and  trust  that  they  will 
carry  away  from  us  none  but  pleasant 
recollections  of  this  occasion. 

Whatever  may  be  the  drawbacks  or 
disadvantages  attendant  upon  urban  life, 
I think  we  have  all  come  to  acknowledge 
at  this  day  that  our  cities,  great  and 
small,  are  most  important  factors  in  our 
national  life  and  in  our  advancing  civili- 
zation. In  fact,  civilization  depends  not 
only  upon  individual  intelligence  and 
character,  but  also  upon  the  union  and 
co-operative  effort  of  individuals  to  ad- 
vance the  interests  of  society.  Man  is  a 
social  being,  and  the  things  that  are  of 
most  worth  in  this  life  of  ours  spring 
from  the  aspirations  of  social  life,  and 
that  community  is  strongest  and  best 
whose  members  work  together  most 
strenuously  for  the  achievement  of  com- 
mon benefits  and  public  interests,  as  con- 
trasted with  merely  individual  aims  and 
selfish  interests.  Civic  virtue  and  civic 
pride  rest,  it  is  true,  upon  individual 
character,  but  their  influence  is  wider, 
and  their  potency  infinitely  greater  than 
can  possibly  result  from  the  mere  aggre- 
gate of  individual  efforts.  The  members 
of  a community  who  band  together  to 
promote  the  general  interest  and  com- 
mon benefit  of  all,  raise  the  standard  of 
individual  character  and  citizenship,  and 
contribute  largely  to  the  assurance  that 
we  all  want  to  feel  in  the  future.  When 
men  stand  together  in  close  association, 
whether  to  achieve  some  betterment  of 
the  material  conditions  that  surround 
them,  to  resist  some  deteriorating  influ- 
ence on  the  body  politic,  or  to  strike  the 
hydra-head  of  corruption  and  venality  in 
public  life,  each  is  stronger  for  the  asso- 
ciation with  his  fellows,  and  has  his  in- 
fluence multiplied  many  fold  thereby. 

It  is  a cause  of  thankfulness  to-day 
that  such  associated  effort,  whether  re- 
ligious or  secular,  is  battling  everywhere 
against  the  malign  and  deteriorating 


6 


forces  of  our  time — battling  to  resist  the 
evil  and  exalt  the  good  that  always  lurks 
somewhere  in  our  common  human  nature. 
When  such  associations  slacken  in  their 
zeal,  we  drift  backward;  when  we  are 
strong  and  energetic,  our  skies  are  bright 
with  promise  and  hopefulness.  No  civic 
life  is  wholesome  which  is  not,  to  borrow 
the  well-known  phrase  of  our  excellent 
President,  somewhat  “strenuous.”  (Ap- 
plause.) Pride  in  our  homes,  pride  in 
our  city,  and  pride  in  our  State  expand 
into  pride  in  our  country,  and  beget  a 
patriotism  which  makes  that  country 
great  and  strong. 

Object  of  this  Banquet. 

Gentlemen,  the  object  of  our  meeting 
to-night  is  to  quicken  the  interest,  not 
only  of  this  community  but  of  the  neigh- 
boring communities  of  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  Maryland  and  Virginia,  in 
the  improvement  of  the  great  waterways 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  and  of 
the  artificial  canal  which  unites  them. 
No  one  can  even  glance  at  the  map  of 
this  remarkable  region  without  being 
struck  with  the  configuration  of  that 
Peninsula  between  the  two  great  bays  and 
the  proximity  of  them  and  their  affluents 
to  the  great  states  that  I have  named. 
They  extend  into  and  affect  all.  None  of 
the  states  named  are  outside  of  the 
sphere  of  the  economic  influence  that 
these  great  waterways  exert  over  the  in- 
dustries, happiness  and  well-being  of  the 
millions  who  dwell  within  this  favored 
region.  No  bays  or  estuaries  on  our 
whole  coast  line  or  on  the  gulf  minister 
to  the  wants  of  a population  so  dense,  so 
varied,  so  marked  and  distinguished  by 
its  industrial  and  economic  conditions, 
and  by  the  aggregate  of  its  wealth,  as  do 
the  great  bays  and  rivers  upon  whose 
shores  and  watersheds  the  most  of  us 
have  our  homes.  (Applause.)  In  this 
important  respect  there  is  community  of 


interest  for  all  of  us,  and  we  hope  to  see 
a united  effort  by  the  representatives  of 
this  great  population  and  these  enor- 
mous interests  to  obtain  national  recog- 
nition of  their  importance.  (Applause.) 
We  want,  gentlemen,  and  must  have  in 
the  near  future,  a thirty-five  foot  canal 
from  Philadelphia  to  the  sea.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  want  to  see  the  Christiana, 
with  its  great  shipbuilding  interests  and 
industries,  deepened  and  widened,  so 
that  it  may  become  an  American  Clyde. 
(Applause.)  We  want,  moreover,  the 
canal  that  unites  the  waters  of  the  Dela- 
ware and  Chesapeake  bays  made  wide 
enough  and  deep  enough  to  accommodate 
our  ships  of  war  and  all  of  our  merchant 
marine,  so  that  there  may  be  a safe  and 
secure  inland  waterway  for  steamers  of 
the  larger  size  from  Norfolk,  Washing- 
ton, Baltimore,  and  so  on  to  Philadelphia 
and  to  New  York,  (applause)  to  say 
nothing  of  that  waterway  being  a link 
in  that  wonderful  passageway  that  ex- 
tends almost  all  the  way  from  Sandy 
Hook  to  the  Keys  of  Florida. 

The  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  canal 
was  built  by  enterprising,  brave  and  ad- 
venturous men,  at  a time  when  the  coun- 
try was  comparatively  poor  and  weak. 
It  was  a greater  achievement  for  that 
day  and  generation  than  that  to  which 
I have  alluded  would  be  for  the  present. 
We  are  more  able  to  accomplish  this  now 
than  they  were  at  that  time  to  construct 
theirs;  but  it  requires  the  intelligent  ef- 
fort of  those  who  to-day  represent  the 
energy,  industry  and  intelligence  of  the 
region  that  I have  described.  What  a 
splendid  spectacle  it  will  be  when  the 
growing  city  of  Norfolk  and  the  great 
cities  of  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  are 
united  by  a great  waterway,  all  but 
about  twenty  miles  natural,  requiring  an 
artificial  construction  of  less  than  twenty 
miles,  to  make  these  magnificent  bays 
and  thoroughfares  that  the  God  of  Na- 


ture  has  given  us  one  continuous  high- 
way for  the  commerce  of  this  great  re- 
gion. It  seems  as  if  the  God  of  Nature 
had  pointed  out  that  little  neck  of  land 
and  said,  “Go  in  and  occupy  this  great 
region  and  make  it  fertile  and  wealthy 
by  your  endeavor,  and  do  for  the  people 
that  live  here  something  in  addition  to 
what  has  been  done  by  the  kind  Provi- 
dence that  has  given  them  this  fruitful 
region  and  these  beautiful  waterways.” 

Wilmington  the  Center. 

I have  mentioned  Norfolk,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  but  here  lies 
the  beautiful  city  of  Wilmington,  right 
on  the  line  of  travel,  at  the  very  head  of 
that  fair  Peninsula,  ready  to  join  in  the 
work  of  achievement,  as  we  shall  be  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  success.  We  cannot  be 
ignored;  we  cannot  be  forgotten;  we  can- 
not be  passed  by,  because,  happily,  our 
situation  in  this  region  is  almost  central, 
and  some  day  it  will  be  metropolitan. 
(Applause.) 

So,  to-night,  gentlemen,  we  who  repre- 
sent these  toiling,  happy,  prosperous  mil- 
lions inhabiting  this  region — this  popu- 
lation now  dense  and  growing  denser; 
now  rich  and  growing  richer;  strong  and 
growing  stronger — are  here  to  voice  what 
we  believe  to  be  their  wishes.  We  are 
here  to  speak  of  what  seems  to  be  their 
exigent  necessity — to  have  cut  across 
that  narrow  neck  of  land  an  artificial 
waterway  that  shall  unite  these  navi- 
gable waters.  We  are  here  to-night  with 
one  mind  and  purpose,  putting  aside  all 
differences  of  politics,  for  we  are  all 
Americans;  we  all  belong  to  these  states, 
and  we  are  loyal  to  them  and  to  our 
common  country,  however  we  may  differ 
as  to  the  means  by  which  we  shall  show 
that  loyalty,  or  however  we  may  differ 
as  to  the  best  means  of  increasing  its 
glory  and  prosperity.  We  are  here  to 
give  an  impulse  to  this  movement  that 


will  result  in  making  it  one  of  national 
interest  and  concern.  I do  not  think  the 
national  government  can  much  longer  ig- 
nore it.  There  have  been  three  expert 
surveys  and  reports  that  are  now  in  the 
archives  at  Washington,  all  recommend- 
ing the  project,  and  all  showing  how 
feasible  and  necessary  it  is.  (Applause). 

But,  gentlemen,  I can  best  make  my 
returns  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me 
in  asking  me  to  preside  at  your  banquet 
by  detaining  you  no  longer  from  hearing 
those  to  whom  it  will  be  your  pleasure  to 
listen.  (Prolonged  applause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  ex- Senator 
Higgins,  said: 

“I  have  said  that  we  are  here  to-night, 
bound  together  by  a community  of  inter- 
est. If  I may  repeat  myself  and  dwell 
upon  the  point,  after  all,  the  differences 
in  politics  in  this  great  country  of  ours 
are  superficial.  The  bonds  of  union  are 
deep  down  in  our  common  nature,  and 
each  citizen  seeks  to  promote  the  com- 
mon good  of  the  country.  (Applause.)  I 
know  of  no  one  who  can  better  illustrate 
that  sentiment,  and  give  you  more  il- 
luminating advice  upon  the  matter  that 
has  called  us  together  this  evening  in 
this  social  way,  than  your  fellow-towns- 
man, who  has  honored  you  by  represent- 
ing you  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States — our  esteemed  fellow- citizen, Hon- 
orable Anthony  Higgins.  (Applause.) 

“MUTUAL  RELATIONS  BETWEEN 

OUR  NEIGHBORS  AND  OUR- 
SELVES,” 

By 

Hon.  Anthony  Higgins,  of  Wilmington. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I beg 
to  echo  the  welcome  of  our  distinguished 
chairman  to  our  guests  here  to-night,  the 
representatives  of  our  sister  States,  Vir- 
ginia, Maryland,  New  Jersey  and  Penn- 


8 


sylvania,  whose  territory  borders  upon 
these  great  waterways,  which  we  trust 
will  be  united  by  a canal  that  will  ac- 
commodate the  greatest  ships  of  the 
present  and  the  future,  as  the  existing 
one  did  the  crafts  of  its  time.  I beg  also 
to  extend  the  same  welcome  to  that  rep- 
resentative from  the  far-off  State  of 
Iowa,  who  has  honored  us  with  his  pres- 
ence, Representative  Lacey,  of  Iowa,  (ap- 
plause) who  is  himself  the  distinguished 
scion  of  a genuine,  old  Delaware  family. 
(Applause.) 

We  are  very  glad  you  are  here,  not 
only  to  eat  our  salt,  but  to  join  with  us 
in  council  as  to  what  foresight  and  wis- 
dom would  dictate  is  best  to  be  done 
with  respect  to  the  great  interests,  state 
and  national,  that  grow  out  of  these  spa- 
cious and  unsurpassed  waterways. 

Delaware  in  History. 

Delaware  has  always  taken  a national, 
rather  than  a state  or  provincial  interest 
in  our  national  affairs.  The  very  child  of 
the  Revolution,  separated  by  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  at  the  same  mo- 
ment from  both  Great  Britain  and  Penn- 
sylvania, her  conscious  existence  as  a 
separate  state  began  with  the  birth  of 
the  Republic.  The  first  state  to  adopt 
the  Constitution,  she  took  an  early  and 
honorable  part  in  the  steps  that  led  up 
to  the  convention  that  framed  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  (Ap- 
plause.) This  is  not  the  first  gath- 
ering in  which  she  has  participated  with 
the  states  that  are  represented  to-night, 
for  the  consideration  of  a Chesapeake 
and  Delaware  canal.  After  a conference 
held  at  Mt.  Vernon,  in  which  Washing- 
ton was  a commissioner,  between  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland,  convened  to  consider 
a resolution  as  to  the  regulation  of  their 
commercial  relations  on  the  waters  of 
the  Chesapeake  bay  and  Potomac  river, 
Maryland  suggested  that  the  co-opera- 


tion of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware 
should  be  asked,  with  a view  to  the  con- 
struction of  a canal  to  unite  the  waters 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Delaware. 
Thereupon  Virginia  widened  the  scope  of 
the  scheme  to  calling  a conference  of  all 
the  states  of  the  confederation,  for  the 
regulation  of  commerce  between  them, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  securing  uniform 
duties  and  currency.  That  conference, 
including  the  States  of  Virginia,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware  and  New 
York,  met  at  Annapolis.  The  Senate  of 
Maryland,  for  some  reason,  declined  to 
join  in  sending  delegates.  With  the  sub- 
stitution of  Maryland  for  New  York, 
they  were  the  same  states  that  are  rep- 
resented at  this  banquet.  As  you  all 
know,  the  conference,  by  the  unanimous 
choice  of  the  delegates,  was  presided  over 
by  John  Dickinson,  Delaware’s  famous 
statesman  (applause),  and  in  turn  it 
called  the  convention  that  framed  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  So 
we  may  say  that  the  Constitution  grew 
out  of  the  canal.  (Laughter.) 

We  may  be  asked  what  special  inter- 
est has  Delaware  in  the  construction  of 
a deep-water  ship  canal  to  unite  the  two 
bays.  Why  of  all  the  states  interested 
and  present  here  to-night,  should  it  be 
Delaware  to  stand  up  and  summon  her 
sisters  into  council?  If  the  question  is 
put  because  we  are  small  in  size,  I would 
answer  that  “though  our  hoards  are 
little,  our  hearts  are  great.”  (Applause.) 
Moreover,  as  I have  already  said,  we 
cherish  the  tradition  that  never  from  the 
first  moment  of  her  independent  exist- 
ence has  Delaware  considered  such  sub- 
jects from  a narrow  or  a selfish  view. 
When  you  reflect,  however,  that  the  pro- 
posed ship  canal  will  pass  in  the  main 
through  Delaware  territory,  it  is  pre- 
eminently proper  that  she  should  be  the 
State  to  convene  this  gathering.  Others 
will  speak  to  you  to-night  of  the  re- 


9 


sources,  the  development,  the  growth  and 
future  of  our  city  of  Wilmington,  for 
which  the  Board  of  Trade  stands  spon- 
sor; but  whatever  advantages  from  this 
enterprise  will  flow  to  the  union,  or  to 
Virginia,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania  or 
New  Jersey,  Delaware  will  share  them  in 
proportion  to  the  activities  of  her  agri- 
culture, her  manufactures  and  her  com- 
merce. 

President  Loree  of  B.  & 0.  R.  R. 

If  any  state  will  receive  from  it  special 
advantages,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  will 
be  Maryland.  I am  not  left  to  this  mere 
assertion  of  my  own.  It  was  with  es- 
pecial pleasure  that  we  heard  an  expres- 
sion of  views  a few  days  ago,  at  a meet- 
ing held  in  Baltimore,  in  which  Colonel 
Loree,  President  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  Company,  which,  with  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  repre- 
sents the  largest  single  interest  in  the 
transportation  and  commerce  of  that 
port,  gave  his  adhesion  to  our  project  in 
the  following  words: 

“There  will  yet  remain,  however,  an 
improvement  that  is  essential  to  the 
maintenance  of  our  coastwise  trade. 
Your  communication  with  New  England 
would  be  shortened  by  194  miles  through 
the  construction  of  the  Chesapeake  and 
Delaware  canal.  The  dangerous  coast 
between  Norfolk  and  the  Delaware  capes 
would  be  avoided,  and  your  city,  for 
coastwise  trade,  would  be  placed  prac- 
tically upon  the  ocean  front,  instead  of 
as  now.  150  miles  inland.” 

But  Colonel  Loree  could  have  gone 
much  farther.  The  same  advantage 
would  be  enjoyed  by  all  ships,  in  the 
trans-Atlantic  trade,  and  sailing  other- 
wise than  to  the  southward. 

The  interests  of  Virginia  are  hardly 
any,  if  any,  less;  while  Baltimore  is,  as 
a city  of  the  first  class,  a great  emporium 
not  only  of  the  country  east  of  the  Alle- 


ghenies, but  of  the  empire  west  of  them, 
Newport  News,  by  its  connection  through 
the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  railroad,  reaches 
the  same  territory  and  shares  in  the 
same  commerce;  while  Norfolk  is  a port 
which  draws  its  prosperity  and  growth 
from  the  entire  south.  The  old,  ante- 
bellum aphorism,  “Nothing  is  certain  but 
negroes  and  cotton,”  (laughter)  is  com- 
ing forward  with  new  importance,  for 
with  its  soaring  prices,  cotton  is  again 
king.  The  tobacco,  coal  and  lumber,  with 
the  manufactures  that  have  grown  up 
there  to  enrich  the  land  and  make  that 
New  South  in  whose  prosperity  we  all  so 
heartily  rejoice,  (applause)  will  be  tribu- 
tary to  this  new  instrument  of  commerce 
through  the  Virginia  connections,  in 
which  Baltimore  also  will  have  no  slight 
share.  The  increased  coastwise  facilities, 
and  the  added  safety  to  shipping,  could 
not  but  be  of  great  advantage  to  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey  through  Phila- 
delphia and  Camden.  I shall  not  extend 
my  horoscope  farther  to  the  north  and 
treat  of  the  possibilities  of  widening  and 
deepening  the  canal  through  New  Jersey 
from  the  Delaware  river  to  the  Atlantic 
coast. 

When  compared  with  the  sum  of  the 
projects  contained  in  a river  and  harbor 
bill,  I have  already  said  enough  to  show 
that  this  proposition  is  of  far  more  effect 
and  importance  to  our  commerce  than 
many  others  upon  which  Congress  has 
already  made,  and  will  be  called  upon 
hereafter  to  make,  larger  outlays.  And 
when  Congress  shall  have  its  attention 
drawn  to  the  subject  by  a gathering  of 
the  dignity  and  importance  of  this  as- 
semblage, we  hope  they  will  not  fail  to 
give  it  the  sanction  of  their  approval. 
(Applause.) 

But  whatever  uncertainty  may  exist  as 
to  Congress  entering  upon  this  great  pub- 
lic work,  because  of  the  commercial  ad- 


10 


vantages  involved,  the  other  side  of  the 
problem  is  one  involved  in  no  doubt. 
Since  the  Government  has  entered  upon 
the  construction  of  a larger  navy,  one 
adequate  to  our  population,  our  re- 
sources, and  our  world-wide  interests,  it 
can  hardly  hesitate  to  adopt  a project 
which  can  double  the  effective  force  of 
our  navy  in  respect  of  our  home  defense 
and  naval  base,  at  a cost  of  scarcely,  if 
any,  more  than  one -half  that  of  a single 
battleship.  If  Germany  doubled  her  ef- 
fective naval  power  by  constructing  the 
Kiel  canal  to  allow  her  fleet  to  pass  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  Atlantic,  certainly  we 
can  undertake  a much  less  costly  work 
that  will  give  us  the  inside  channel  from 
League  Island  to  Hampton  Roads — 
League  Island,  our  great  naval  depot  and 
construction  yard;  Hampton  Roads,  one 
of  the  very  great  harbors  of  the  world, 
our  principal  naval  station  and  the  base 
of  any  naval  action,  whether  of  defense 
or  offense,  that  may  be  conducted  from 
the  Atlantic  coast. 

International  Dangers. 

We  are  told,  however,  that  the  United 
States  need  not  fear  war;  that  we  are 
protected  by  our  splendid  “isolation,”  and 
that  the  magnitude  of  our  resources  de- 
ters as  well  as  defies  attack.  To  this  it 
may  be  replied  that  our  isolation  is  lost, 
a thing  of  the  past,  while  with  our  in- 
creased power  has  come  added  and  grave 
responsibility,  inherently  incident  to 
our  geographical  situation — responsibil- 
ity which  we  will  not  seek  to  evade,  and 
could  not  if  we  would. 

By  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  the  primary 
principle  of  American  International  Law, 
we  assume  the  hegemony  of  the  Ameri- 
can continent,  and  peremptorily  warn  all 
Europe  off  of  it,  forbidding  them  to  ex- 
tend their  American  possessions,  if  they 
have  them  already,  or  to  act  oppressively 
toward  any  American  republic.  Such  a 
position  can  be  maintained  only  by  a 


force  equal  to  the  extent  and  gravity  of 
the  responsibility,  and  it  may  at  any 
time  involve  us  in  war. 

Closely  connected  with  our  obligations 
under  the  Monroe  Doctrine  now  comes 
the  Isthmian  canal.  No  one  doubts  that 
it  will  be  built,  and  that  speedily  (ap- 
plause) because  of  the  present  improved 
instrumentalities  of  excavation  and  con- 
struction. 

Captain  Mahan  says  that  when  the 
canal  shall  have  been  built,  the  Carribean 
Sea  will  become  a point  of  strategic  in- 
terest as  acute  as  the  Mediterranean  has 
always  been  throughout  the  course  of 
human  history. 

The  harbors  of  Porto  Rico  and  the  two 
naval  stations  we  hold  in  Cuba  give  us 
valuable  outposts  for  the  formidable  task 
of  guarding  the  canal,  but  shall  we  fail 
to  use  the  increased  power  of  defense 
and  of  mobility  in  attack  to  be  secured 
by  connecting  League  Island  and  Hamp- 
ton Roads  by  water? 

But  with  the  duty  of  maintaining  the 
Isthmian  canal,  making  as  it  will,  a part 
of  our  own  coast  line,  closely  connecting 
our  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  and 
carrying,  as  it  will,  a large  part  of  the 
commerce  between  Europe  and  Asia  and 
all  the  countries  of  the  Pacific,  the 
United  States  will  be  drawn  measurably 
nearer  the  vortex  of  European  affairs, 
and  nearer  thereby  to  the  perils  of  war. 

Pacific  and  the  East. 

Next  is  the  problem  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  We  have  on  it  the  longest  coast 
line  of  any  nation  on  any  continent  in 
the  world.  We  are  the  only  Christian 
nation  having  such  a coast  line  on  the 
Pacific,  and  with  the  exception  of  Alaska, 
it  is  entirely  within  the  temperate  zone. 
Beyond  it  lies  the  trade  of  Oceanica  and 
of  the  Orient  not  merely  the  glittering 
prize  of  all  the  world,  but  indispensable 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  people  of  our 


11 


Pacific  coast  states.  They  are  instinct 
with  our  throbbing  American  life,  and 
half  a century  hence,  will  have  a popu- 
lation as  dense  as  the  Atlantic  coast  has 
to-day.  Does  any  one  suppose  that  they 
and  the  continent  of  Americans  behind 
them  will  be  content  without  their  free 
and  fair  participation  in  that  trade  with 
the  Asiatic  coast  opposite  them?  From 
the  time  of  the  war  between  Japan  and 
China,  and  its  demonstration  of  the  im- 
potence of  China,  followed  by  the  aggres- 
sive advance  of  Russia,  it  became  appar- 
ent that  the  United  States  had  an  acute 
interest  in  the  problems  involved.  With 
the  affairs  of  Europe,  we  have  no  con- 
cern, and  Washington’s  rule  of  absten- 
tion holds.  But  this  is  not  Europe;  it  is 
Asia,  and  no  longer  even  the  Orient.  For 
us,  it  not  the  “East,”  it  is  our  “West.” 
(Applause.) 

No,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  are  no  longer  al- 
together isolated.  Our  inherent  inter- 
ests in  countries  aliunde  ourselves  are 
not  merely  latent,  but  have  become  pat- 
ent. We  have  ceased  to  be  beyond  the 
possibility  or  fear  of  war.  I have  long 
felt  that  we  can  no  longer  indulge  in 
such  optimism.  It  is  nine  years  since  I 
had  occasion  to  express  my  views  on  this 
subject.  Then,  when  we  had  a far 
weaker  navy  than  now,  I ventured  to 
urge  that  the  United  States  could  not 
longer  afford  to  ignore  its  actual  place 
among  the  great  powers  of  the  earth; 
that  steam  and  electricity  had  annihi- 
lated time  and  space;  that  we  had  as- 
sumed the  place  of  a planet  of  the  first 
magnitude  in  the  constellation  of  the 
nations,  and  could  not  escape  from  the 
incidents,  the  responsibilities  or  dangers 
that  go  with  our  population,  our  terri- 
tory, our  importance  and  our  might.  I 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  had 
within  the  then  last  two  or  three  years, 
four  incidents  to  occur  with  foreign  na- 
tions, any  one  of  which  might  have  led 


to  hostilities.  One  was  with  Italy,  over 
the  Mafia  in  New  Orleans;  one  with 
Chile,  at  the  time  of  their  insurrection; 
another  with  Brazil,  at  the  time  of  the 
insurrection  there;  and  the  fourth  with 
Great  Britain,  when  she  seized  Corinto 
to  enforce  the  collection  of  alleged  claims 
against  Nicaragua.  I ventured  to  add 
that  we  did  not  know  what  would  hap- 
pen, but  we  did  know  that  something 
would  happen.  Hardly  a year  passed  by 
before  the  curtain  of  the  East  was  rolled 
up  on  that  vast  and  majestic  problem  by 
war  between  Japan  and  China.  Another 
year,  and  we  were  ourselves  involved  in 
war  with  Spain,  while  since,  we  have 
been  called  upon  to  settle  the  harsh  ag- 
gressions of  Germany  and  Great  Britain 
upon  Venezuela.  We  caused  them  to 
submit  their  swollen  claims  to  impartial 
commissions  for  ascertainment,  and  sent 
their  demand  for  preferential  treatment 
in  payment  of  the  awards  to  the  arbitra- 
tion of  The  Hague  Tribunal.  The  world 
stands  with  respectful  submission  before 
this  great  manifestation  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  and  our  purpose  to  protect  all 
the  republics  south  of  us  from  the  op- 
pression of  European  powers. 

Meanwhile  we  have  annexed  Hawaii. 
Dewey’s  victory  gave  us  Guam  and  the 
Philippines  and  made  us  an  Asiatic  pow- 
er. Hawaii,  Guam  and  the  Philippines 
give  us  naval  and  coaling  stations  as 
stepping  stones  across  the  wide  Pacific, 
and  these,  together  with  our  use  of  the 
Aleutian  Islands  on  the  north,  and  with 
the  Philippines  lying  upon  the  flank  of 
China  and  the  Asiatic  continent  on  the 
south,  make  it  easily  within  our  power 
to  augment,  protect  and  defend  that 
great  commerce  of  the  future  on  the 
Northern  Pacific,  which  will  grow  and 
grow  and  forever  grow,  as  our  population 
on  the  Pacific  coast  equals,  if  it  does  not 
exceed  in  density  that  upon  the  Atlantic. 
(Applause.) 


12 


Conflict  Over  Canada. 

Nor  can  we  ignore  another  problem, 
whieh,  to  my  mind,  will  always  continue 
as  our  largest  and  most  acute  concern 
until  it  is  settled,  and  settled  right.  I 
mean  the  continuance  of  British  jurisdic- 
tion upon  this  continent,  preventing  that 
continental  unity  upon  which  depends 
the  highest  welfare  of  its  English-speak- 
ing race.  No  one  welcomes  more  heartily 
or  with  warmer  feelings  of  satisfaction 
than  I the  manifestations  of  kindliness 
which  have  come  with  such  unreserved 
flow  in  recent  years  from  Great  Britain. 
As  we  all  know,  it  was  not  always  so. 
But  already,  and  fortunately,  we  are  be- 
ginning to  let  the  sense  of  grievance  which 
we  carried  from  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution toward  our  kin  beyond  the  sea 
fade  away  with  the  past.  But  it  cannot 
be  ignored  that  nations  are  governed  by 
their  interests,  and  as  to  our  relations 
with  Canada,  that  there  is  a conflict  of 
interest  deep  and  profound  between  us 
and  Great  Britain — one  to  be  ended  some 
day  only  by  a solution  solely  and  simply 
American — a solution  that  I trust  and 
hope  will  be  the  outcome  of  the  economic 
forces  which  naturally  bind  the  English- 
speaking  countries  of  North  America  in 
one;  certainly  never  the  military  aggres- 
sion of  the  United  States  upon  Canada. 

So  far  I have  made  no  reference  to  the 
probability  of  war  breaking  out  between 
Russia  and  Japan.  We  sit  to-night  un- 
der its  dark  and  threatening  cloud.  We 
all  devoutly  hope  that  the  cloud  may  pass 
away  and  sweet  peace  continue  to  reign. 
But  again,  have  we  a right  to  be  optim- 
istic about  it?  The  impending  conflict 
is  as  to  who  shall  possess  China,  and  for 
that  matter,  Eastern  Asia.  After  cen- 
turies of  war  about  its  map,  Europe 
seems  to  have  fought  its  differences  out. 
Europe  has  peacefully  parcelled  out  Af- 
rica. Can  the  problem  of  China  be  solved 


without  war?  Will  the  opening  decade 
of  the  twentieth  century  be  free  from  the 
wars  that  bathed  its  predecessors  of  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth?  The  future, 
and  probably  the  near  future,  alone  can 
tell. 

I trust  that  I have  not  exhausted  your 
patience,  but  that  I have  said  enough  to 
show  that  the  United  States  cannot  any 
longer  rest  in  the  complacent  satisfaction 
that  it  is  beyond  the  danger  of  war.  We 
trust  that  it  will  not  come.  It  may  be 
true  that  before  the  “battle  flags  are 
furled  in  the  parliament  of  men  and  the 
confederation  of  the  world”  mankind  will 
have  to  tread  over  many  bloody  fields. 
We  may  hope  and  trust  that  we  shall  be 
free  from  participation  in  them;  but  it 
would  be  the  height  of  folly  for  us  to 
disdain  or  ignore  any  or  all  protection 
which  can  strengthen  us,  knowing  that 
adequate  defenses  on  land  and  sea  are 
the  surest  instrumentalities  to  deter  any 
nation  from  meeting  us  in  war. 

Hence  I say,  let  the  nation  build  the 
little,  short,  ship  canal  of  fourteen  miles 
from  the  Chesapeake  to  the  Delaware; 
make  it  deep  enough  and  broad  enough 
for  the  greatest  ships  that  the  daring  of 
naval  constructors  can  anticipate;  and 
let  it  stand  there,  at  once  the  agency  of 
peace  and  of  war,  for  the  benefit,  inci- 
dentally, of  the  commerce  of  the  nation, 
but  mainly  for  the  maritime,  military 
and  naval  greatness  and  supremacy  of 
the  United  States.  (Prolonged  applause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Hon.  Charles 
Emory  Smith,  said: 

Gentlemen:  You  see,  if  you  had  not 
realized  the  fact  before  listening  to  the 
eloquent  portrayal  just  made,  that  this 
subject,  which  was,  in  one  view,  a nar- 
row and,  perhaps,  a provincial  one, 
touches  the  great  problems  of  interna- 
tional statesmanship.  Senator  Higgins 
has  made  it  clear  that,  at  every  point, 


this  comparatively  small  question  of  a 
ship  canal  not  only  interests  this  imme- 
diate region,  but  touches  all  the  large 
interests  of  this  great  country,  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  the  lakes  to  the 
gulf.  Apparently  there  is  not  a single 
problem  that  somehow  is  not  connected 
with  and  resting  upon  the  construction 
of  this  canal.  (Laughter.)  Somehow 
or  other,  the  Isthmian  canal,  the  comple- 
tion of  which  we  hope  to  see  in  the  near 
future  (applause)  has  become  indissolu- 
bly connected  with  the  construction  of 
the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  canal. 

I trust  that  the  Isthmian  canal  will 
soon  be  built.  It  is  a great  and  high  as- 
piration, not  only  of  the  people  of  this 
country,  but  of  all  the  peoples  of  the 
world.  When  it  is  built,  it  will  be  for  no 
narrow  and  sefish  purpose,  but  for  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  (Applause.) 
And  gentlemen,  I may  add  also  the  hope 
that  what  we  wish  highly  we  may  have 
worthily  (applause)  that  somehow,  out 
of  the  present  entanglement,  will  come  a 
solution  that  will  enable  us  all,  as  Amer- 
ican citizens,  with  heads  erect,  and  with 
eyes  flashing  with  American  patriotism 
and  pride,  to  say  that  the  canal  will  be 
built  with  no  stain  upon  the  American 
name.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Higgins  has  most  eloquently  por- 
trayed the  necessity  of  this  canal  as  a 
means  of  national  defense,  but  we  are  to 
hear  more  particularly  on  this  subject 
from  a gentleman  whom  it  is  our  pride 
and  pleasure  to  have  with  us  this  even- 
ing. A little  more  than  two  years  and 
a half  ago,  we  all  assembled  around  the 
open  grave  of  a beloved  President — a 
man  whose  administration  added  honor 
and  dignity  to  the  American  name — a 
man  who  gathered  around  him  counsel- 
lors that  were  worthy  of  the  best  tradi- 
tions of  American  history.  One  of  those 
counsellors  is  with  us  to-night,  and  you 
are  to  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from 


him.  I mean  the  Honorable  Charles 
Emory  Smith,  of  Philadelphia.  (Pro- 
longed applause.) 

“AN  AID  TO  THE  NATIONAL  DE- 
FENSE” 

By 

Hon.  Charles  Emory  Smith,  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Gentlemen:  I 
thank  you,  sir,  for  the  very  eloquent  and 
touching  tribute  which  you  have  paid  to 
the  memory  of  the  great  President,  who 
was  the  patriotic  President  of  the  whole 
country.  (Applause.)  I am  sure  that  if 
his  spirit  hovers  over  this  country  now, 
as  I feel  that  it  does,  it  will  be  touched 
by  the  expression  of  this  great  assem- 
blage to  your  words. 

I congratulate  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
Wilmington  upon  this  magnificent  oc- 
casion. I congratulate  it  upon  its  suc- 
cess in  gathering  here  so  large  a body  of 
representative  men  of  this  progressive 
city,  and  in  bringing  to  this  board  these 
distinguished  representatives  of  neigh- 
boring commonwealths. 

It  is  a great  pleasure  for  me  to  be  here, 
to  sit  at  this  board  under  the  presidency 
of  your  distinguished  toastmaster.  (Ap- 
plause.) You  honor  him  here  in  this,  his 
home;  but  you  do  not  honor  him,  you  do 
not  more  highly  appreciate  his  ability, 
his  dignity,  his  patriotism,  his  lofty  pub- 
lic spirit,  than  do  we  of  other  common- 
wealths. (Applause.) 

As  I rise  to  speak  in  response  to  this 
toast,  after  the  speech  of  my  distinguish- 
ed friend,  your  former  Senator  (Mr.  Hig- 
gins), who  has  completely  exhausted  the 
subject,  I feel,  perhaps,  somewhat  as  did 
the  young  man  who  took  a walk  with  his 
lady  love.  Contrary  to  the  usual  rule,  he 
was  full  of  sentiment  and  she  full  of 
practical  sense.  They  sat  down  beneath 
an  apple  tree,  and  he  said:  “My  love,  do 
you  not  hear  the  limbs  and  the  leaves 


14 


sigh  and  moan  ?”  And  the  lady,  with  the 
practical  sense  for  which  she  was  dis- 
tinguished— she  was  a farmer’s  daughter 
— answered,  “Well,  do  you  not  think  you 
would  sigh  and  moan  if  you  were  full  of 
green  apples?”  (Prolonged  laughter  and 
applause.)  The  green  apples  of  which  I 
was  full  have  become  the  ripened  fruit 
in  the  harvest  of  your  distinguished  ex- 
Senator.  And  yet,  as  a Philadelphian,  I 
am  glad  to  participate  in  this  memorable 
occasion.  Philadelphia,  as  you  will  dis- 
cover if  you  examine  the  map,  is  a con- 
siderable town  near  Camden.  (Laughter.) 
It  has  a profound  interest  in  the  great 
project  which  you  are  assembled  to  ad- 
vance. 

Canal  a Vital  Necessity. 

The  construction  of  the  Chesapeake 
and  Delaware  canal  is  of  vital  interest  to 
these  cities  of  Philadelphia,  Wilmington 
and  Baltimore,  which  it  would  bring  upon 
a great  interior  waterway.  It  Avould 
enormously  improve  the  connection  and 
advance  the  material  interests  of  the 
five  great  commonwealths  that  stand 
upon  the  shores  of  these  waters,  and 
whose  interests  have  been  so  well  point- 
ed out  here  to-night. 

The  world  takes  no  step  backward,  and 
it  takes  no  step  backward  in  turning  its 
special  and  its  direct  attention,  as  it 
does  to-day,  to  the  great  problem  of  the 
waterway.  The  world  has  found  that 
both  the  railway  and  the  waterway  are 
essential  to  a full  and  complete  system 
of  inland  communication.  We  have  had 
a wonderful  era  of  railroad  expansion. 
Under  the  genius  of  American  progress, 
we  have  built  more  railway  mileage  in 
this  country  than  all  Europe  with  its 
three  hundred  and  seventy  millions  of 
people.  (Applause.)  Our  country  is  a 
wonderful  network  of  iron  tracks,  and 
the  capacity  and  the  capital  which  have 
wrought  out  this  splendid  system  stand 


as  a magnificent  exemplification  of  mod- 
ern power. 

But  we  now  see,  as  Europe  sees,  that 
this  great  system  will  be  made  more  use- 
ful and  efficient  if  it  shall  be  supple- 
mented by  a full  and  adequate  waterway. 
We  are  turning  again  to  the  method 
which  from  the  foundation  of  the  world 
has  been  one  of  the  primal  means  of 
communication.  It  was  600  years  before 
the  Christian  era  that  witnessed  the  con- 
ception of  the  Corinth  canal,  which 
should  bring  the  Adriatic  and  Aegean 
seas  close  together,  but  it  has  remained 
for  this  era  of  canal  construction  to  wit- 
ness its  completion.  One  of  the  great 
material  features  of  our  time  is  the  new 
realization  of  the  importance  of  the 
waterway  and  the  entrance  upon  its 
practical  and  colossal  development.  We 
have  seen  a canal  practically  save  the 
great  chief  manufacturing  city  of  Eng- 
land. We  have  seen  the  city  of  Man- 
chester make  herself  a seaport  by  a gi- 
gantic engineering  work  which  has 
brought  seagoing  vessels  to  her  wharves, 
thirty-five  miles  from  the  sea.  Under 
the  stress  of  the  obstacles  of  trans-ship- 
ment and  of  high  freight  charges,  she 
was  in  danger  of  losing  her  supremacy. 
Her  great  mills  and  factories  were  seek- 
ing more  eligible  locations.  But  that 
canal,  into  which  its  constructors  and 
projectors  did  not  hesitate  to  put  more 
than  $75,000,000,  has  rescued  Manchester 
from  that  danger,  has  re-established  her 
real  estate  values,  has  kept  her  great 
mills  and  factories,  and  has  firmly  fixed 
her  industrial  and  commercial  position. 
(Applause.) 

Canals  vs.  Railroads. 

Other  nations  of  Europe  have  gone  be- 
yond England  in  the  adoption  of  the 
waterway.  Germany  has,  within  a very 
recent  period,  expended  more  than  $90,- 
000,000  in  the  construction  of  canals,  and 


15 


in  the  last  election  of  the  Reichstag  it 
was  decided  that  she  would  carry  this 
system  farther  forward  by  an  expendi- 
ture of  more  than  $40,000,000  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  the  work  of  inland  navigation. 
The  courage,  enterprise  and  spirit  with 
which  she  has  entered  upon  that  work 
are  shown  in  the  construction  of  the  Kiel 
canal,  to  which  Senator  Higgins  referred, 
which  unites  the  North  Sea  and  the  Bal- 
tic, which  has  developed  a great  com- 
merce because  it  saves  the  long  detour 
around  the  Skager  Rack,  the  Cattegat 
and  the  sound  of  Copenhagen. 

In  like  manner  France  has  entered 
upon  a comprehensive  system  of  public 
improvements.  A commission  of  the 
greatest  national  experts  has  been  for 
years  engaged  in  the  study  of  that  sys- 
tem. Its  fulfillment  is  to  extend  over  a 
period  of  years,  and  it  is  calculated  that 
its  aggregate  cost  will  not  be  less  than 
$50,000,000.  One  of  the  chief  parts  of 
that  system  of  public  improvements  is 
the  construction  and  enlargement  of  in- 
land waterways,  one  of  them  being  a 
canal  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  bay 
of  Biscay,  which  shall  shorten  the  way 
from  the  Mediterranean  to  Northern  Eu- 
rope and  Northern  France,  saving  the 
long  journey  around  the  Iberian  Penin- 
sula, around  Gibraltar,  immensely  im- 
proving the  means  of  transit  and  greatly 
advancing  the  material  welfare  of  the 
people. 

On  this  continent,  Canada  has  a splen- 
did system  of  waterways,  to  which  we 
may  well  look  with  emulation.  With  her 
St.  Lawrence,  Welland  and  Sault  Ste 
Marie  canals,  she  has  completed  a system 
of  unbroken  water  communication  from 
the  head  of  Lake  Superior  to  Montreal,  a 
distance  of  two  thousand  miles.  By 
means  of  that  unbroken  water  communi- 
cation, which  enables  a boat  to  leave  Chi- 
cago and  go,  without  breaking  bulk,  to 
Liverpool,  she  is  threatening  American 


control  of  exportations  unless  we  bestir 
ourselves.  (Applause.)  That  menace  has 
had  a large  part  in  inducing  the  great 
State  of  New  York  to  enter  upon  an  ex- 
penditure of  $100,000,000  for  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Erie  canal. 

It  is  a period  for  such  undertakings. 
We  stand  upon  the  verge  of  the  Isthmian 
canal,  which  shall  be  the  great  inter- 
oceanic  waterway  that  shall  wed  the 
two  oceasns  and  change  the  commerce  of 
the  world.  (Applause.)  I share  the  sen- 
timent of  your  chairman  in  hoping  and 
believing  that  it  will  be  speedily  under- 
taken, and  I share  none  the  less  his  sen- 
timent that  it  shall  be  undertaken  with- 
out any  stain  upon  our  name.  (Ap- 
plause.) I go  farther  and  say  that,  in 
my  belief,  with  the  sense  of  the  Amer- 
ican people,  with  that  saving  sense,  with 
that  sense  of  justice  which  has  inspired 
us  on  all  occasions — which  prompted  us 
after  the  war  with  Spain,:  which  prompt- 
ed us  after  the  trouble  in  China — with 
that  sense  of  justice  which  animates  the 
American  heart,  and  which  prompts  the 
American  government,  by  whatever 
party  it  may  be  administered — we  shall 
do  our  duty  to  mankind  and  to  our  neigh- 
bors. (Applause.) 

I say  it  is  a time  for  such  undertak- 
ings. It  is  a propitious  time  for  the  re- 
newal of  the  effort  on  behalf  of  the 
Chesapeake  and  Delaware  canal.  See  the 
elements  of  the  problem.  Here  are  two 
great  arms  of  the  sea — two  great  estu- 
aries, the  Chesapeake  and  the  Delaware. 
On  their  shores  are  several  of  the  great 
industrial  and  commercial  cities  of  the 
country.  On  their  shores  touch  five  great 
states,  full  of  enormous,  inestimable  re- 
sources. Through  this  canal  they  will 
be  brought  together  by  an  inland  water 
communication  which  will  practically 
cover  nearly  one-half  of  the  Atlantic 
coast.  Look  at  the  map,  and  a single 
glance  tells  you  of  the  enormous  advan- 


16 


tage  which  would  ensue  from  that  con- 
nection. 

The  Canal  and  National  Defense. 

Others  at  this  board  speak  of  its  com- 
mercial value;  it  is  for  me  to  dwell  for 
a single  moment  upon  its  great  signifi- 
cance as  a means  of  national  defense. 
The  exterior  line  from  Norfolk  to  Phila- 
delphia, or  to  the  Atlantic  coast  oppo- 
site Philadelphia,  stretches  from  the 
thirty -seventh  to  the  fortieth  degree  of 
latitude.  When  you  add  the  length  of 
river  and  of  bay  that  must  be  traversed, 
the  distance  is  immeasurably  augmented. 
The  construction  of  this  canal  would  re- 
duce the  water  distance  between  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore  to  about  100  miles. 
But  that  does  not  begin  to  suggest  the 
enormous  value  of  the  project.  On  that 
line  are  found  the  city  of  Norfolk,  with 
the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard;  Fortress  Mon- 
roe and  Newport  News  behind  it;  the  na- 
tional capital,  itself  once  invaded  by  a 
foreign  foe,  but  with  such  a construction 
as  this,  impossible  of  invasion  by  any 
foe;  (applause  and  cheers)  the  great  city 
of  Baltimore,  rightly  described  as  “im- 
perial;” the  coming  metropolitan  city  of 
Wilmington,  (applause)  and  Philadel- 
phia, with  the  League  Island  Navy  Yard. 
No  small  part  of  our  naval  power  would 
be  found  at  the  various  points  on  this 
line,  and  with  this  inland  waterway  con- 
structed, it  would  practically  be  made 
available  at  any  point  at  almost  any  in- 
stant. We  should  have  the  interior, 
short,  defended,  impregnable  line;  our 
adversary,  whether  attempting  to  block- 
ade or  to  attack,  would  have  the  outside, 
open,  exposed  line.  The  arc  of  that  circle 
is  enormous;  the  radius  is  small  and 
easily  commanded,  and  we  could  bring 
together  our  force  at  any  point  of  danger 
within  the  shortest  possible  compass  of 
time.  So  that  the  advantages  are  pal- 
pable and  obvious.  My  friend  upon  my 


right  (ex- Senator  Higgins)  has  said  the 
cost  would  be  about  half  that  of  a battle- 
ship. He  is  better  versed  than  I.  I should 
have  said  the  cost  possibly  of  two  battle- 
ships would  cover  the  entire  expense. 
Two  battleships!  And  it  might  well  be 
that  in  the  compass  of  a single  week  the 
advantage  of  that  canal  would  far  out- 
weigh the  cost  of  two  battleships.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

General  Wilson:  Of  twenty? 

Mr.  Smith:  Yes,  of  twenty  battle- 
ships. 

Navy,  Our  Protector. 

Our  security  in  the  future  depends 
upon  our  naval  power.  Buttressed  as  we 
are  by  two  great  oceans,  we  are  impreg- 
nable against  military  invasion.  (Ap- 
plause.) If  we  had  it,  if  it  were  under- 
taken, we  have  a great  body  of  American 
people  trained  in  arms,  with  rea'dy  lead- 
ers, distinguished  soldiers,  like  my  vet- 
eran friend  by  my  side  (General  Wilson) 
who  has  participated  in  two  wars.  We 
should  be  ready  to  meet  them,  but  we  are 
not  to  meet  them  there.  If  that  time  ever 
comes,  we  are  to  meet  them  on  the  water. 
Our  defense  must  be  on  the  water  and  at 
the  very  coast.  For  that  purpose  we  are 
building  a great  navy  and  also  coast 
fortifications.  The  chairman  of  the 
Naval  Committee  of  the  Senate  says 
that  with  the  additions  now  projected 
our  navy  will  be  second  only  to  that  of 
Great  Britain.  The  people  of  the  United 
States,  of  all  parties,  sustain  and  ap- 
prove the  building  of  that  navy.  (Ap- 
plause.) They  know  that  it  is  our  cheap- 
est and  our  surest  security.  They  wel- 
come it,  not  because  they  expect  war,  but 
as  the  surest  guarantee  of  peace,  though 
war  may  come  at  any  time.  As  we  build 
up  that  navy  we  must  build  up  its  base. 

We  are  now  the  greatest  agricultural 
nation  of  the  world,  and  long  have  been. 
Within  these  last  few  years,  we  have  be- 


17 


come  the  greatest  Industrial  power  in  the 
world.  We  are  soon,  I believe,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, to  become  the  great  commercial 
power  of  the  world.  We  have  outstripped 
England  in  the  advancement  of  our  in- 
dustries. Thirty  years  ago  our  manufac- 
turing product  was  just  equal  to  that  of 
England.  To-day  it  is  three  times  as 
great.  We  have  outstripped  Germany 
and  France.  Our  manufacturing  product 
is  equal  to  that  of  all  those  three  great 
powers  of  Europe  put  together.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  are  to-day  making  half  the 
iron  and  steel  made  in  all  the  world.  We 
are  consuming  one-third  of  all  the  wool 
used  in  the  world.  We  are  doing  two- 
fifths  of  all  the  mining  done  in  the  world. 
We  stand  to-day  immeasurably  foremost 
in  industrial  power,  and  as  the  natural 
fruit  of  that,  with  a wise  policy  on  our 
part,  we  shall  become  the  great  commer- 
cial power  of  the  world.  (Applause.) 

We  have  a coast  line  absolutely  un- 
equalled among  the  nations,  a coast  line 
stretching,  with  but  a little  break  on  the 
Gulf  and  another  on  the  Pacific,  more 
than  10,000  miles  from  Quoddy  Head 
in  Maine  to  Puget  Sound  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  (Applause.)  There  never  has 
been  anything  like  it  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  In  the  nature  of  things  there 
never  can  be  anything  like  it  except  in 
the  extension  of  our  own  coast  line  cov- 
ering the  larger  part  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican continent.  (Applause.) 

Can  Afford  to  Build  Canal. 

We  have  a great  mission.  Undoubted- 
ly it  costs  money  to  enter  upon  these 
projects,  but  the  United  States  is  pre- 
pared for  them.  It  is  accumulating  its 
monetary  power  with  a rapidity  which 
the  world  has  never  seen  equalled  in  the 
past  and  which  is  nowhere  else  seen 
equalled  to-day.  Do  you  realize  that  in 
1902  (I  pass  last  year  for  obvious  rea- 
sons) our  earnings  in  this  great  country 
of  ours  were  equal  to  one-half  the  entire 


accumulated  wealth  of  this  country 
thirty  years  ago?  Do  you  realize  that 
our  earnings  in  that  single  year  were 
equivalent  to  all  that  we  had  earned  and 
saved  and  stored  up  and  put  into  all 
forms  of  property — into  railroads,  houses, 
farms,  stores,  banks,  etc.,  in  the  preced- 
ing eighty  years  of  our  existence  as  a 
nation?  These  figures  are  astounding, 
but  they  are  the  simple  truth.  They 
dazzle  the  imagination,  but  they  tell  us 
of  the  magnificent  greatness,  grandeur 
and  growth  of  our  country. 

We  can  afford  the  expenditure  for  the 
Isthmian  canal;  we  can  afford  the  ex- 
penditure for  the  Chesapeake  and  Dela- 
ware canal.  (Applause.)  This  nation 
could  well  appropriate  out  of  its  treas- 
ury the  entire  amount  needed  for  its 
completion,  and  if  that  expediture,  all 
told,  should  far  exceed  our  expectations, 
it  would  still  not  equal  in  its  proportion 
the  expenditures  of  the  early  days  of  our 
republic.  We  are  sometimes  called  a bil- 
lion-dollar  government.  We  are  not 
there  yet,  and  shall  not  be  for  some 
time.  I certainly  would  not  advocate 
profuse  or  lavish  expenditure,  but  would 
have  every  expenditure  made  with  judg- 
ment, economy  and  a just  regard  for 
practical  objects.  But  if  we  were  to  be- 
come a billion-dollar  government  with 
expenditures  for  such  great  projects  as 
the  Isthmian  canal  and  your  canal  and 
other  works  of  like  character,  we  should 
still  expend  only  one  per  cent  of  our  na- 
tional wealth.  (Applause.) 

So,  Mr.  Chairman,  I want  to  see  this 
nation  of  ours  enter  upon  a development 
commensurate  with  the  greatness  of  its 
mission.  We  have  a mission,  a destiny, 
which  calls  not  for  narrow  views  or  pro- 
vincial undertakings,  but  for  the  largest, 
most  statesmanlike  vision  and  for  great 
projects.  While  we  are  building  up  that 
navy  we  ought  to  take  care  that  we  have 
an  adequate  base,  and  that  it  shall  be  se- 
cure when  the  hour  of  conflict  comes. 
Wherever  we  can  strengthen  it  with  an 


18 


inland  water  bulwark  and  with  water 
communication,  we  ought  to  do  it. 
Search  the  map,  and  you  will  find  that 
there  is  no  place  on  this  continent,  with- 
in the  great  bounds  of  our  country, 
where  that  work  of  building  up  an  in- 
terior bulwark  can  be  done  with  so  little 
cost,  with  such  great  results  and  with 
such  immense  strategic  value  as  in  the 
construction  of  this  little  waterway  of 
fourteen  miles,  which  would  practically 
give  us  an  inward  bulwark  from  Norfolk 
to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Delaware. 
(Applause.)  And  if  you  could  conceive  it 
carried  a little  farther  by  a canal  from 
the  Delaware  to  the  Raritan,  you  would 
have  an  inward  bulwark  behind  the  great 
breastwork  of  the  coast,  extending  from 
Norfolk  to  Boston,  covering  nearly  one- 
half  of  our  Atlantic  coast,  and  by  far  the 
most  important  part  in  population  and 
in  point  of  industrial  and  commercial  de- 
velopment. 

Mr.  Chairman,  a few  years  ago,  it  was 
my  fortune  to  be  present  at  Newport, 
where  were  gathered  200  of  the  pleasure 
craft  of  our  country,  many  of  them 
afterward  converted  into  war  ships  of 
the  smaller  size,  and  some  also  of  the 
great  war  ships  of  the  Republic.  They 
had  gathered  in  that  almost  land-locked 
harbor.  It  was  the  night  of  a fete  as 
brilliant  as  any  that  ever  glittered  along 
the  palace  of  the  Doges  and  on  the  Rialto 
and  the  grand  canal  of  Venice.  Ten 
thousand  Chinese  lanterns  made  it  a 
fairy  scene  of  beauty.  Suddenly,  high 
above  the  light  on  ship  and  on  shore,  un- 
der the  glittering  rays  of  a brilliant 
searchlight  throwing  its  line  of  illumina- 
tion towards  the  sky,  there  appeared, 
far  above  the  topmost  mast  of  the  com- 
modore’s boat — a boat  since  made  famous 
as  the  little  Gloucester  of  the  gallant 
Wainwright,  in  the  great  fight  at  San- 
tiago— the  colors  of  Old  Glory,  made 
more  radiant  as  they  gleamed  under  the 
rays  of  the  searchlight  against  the  dark 
blue  sky.  Immediately  a hundred  can- 


non and  a thousand  throats  sounded  out 
their  greeting  and  their  new  tribute  to 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  their  new  sig- 
nificance. And  so,  Mr.  Chairman,  under 
the  searchlight  of  these  great  opportuni- 
ties which  are  opening  before  us,  the  flag 
of  our  country — your  flag  and  mine — 
seems  to  me  to  gain  new  luster  and 
glory,  and  it  is  for  us  to  appreciate  and 
rise  to  the  glory  and  greatness  of  its 
mission  and  of  its  destiny.  (Loud  and 
prolonged  applause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Alfred  O. 
Crozier,  Esq.,  of  Wilmington,  said: 

Gentlemen:  After  the  eloquent  words 
of  our  distinguished  guest,  I know  that 
you  all  feel  to-night,  perhaps  as  you 
never  felt  before,  that  the  time  has  come 
to  make  these  great  results  that  he  has 
pictured  in  his  glowing  language  the 
achievement  of  our  own  day  and  genera- 
tion. 

I am  sure  you  will  be  glad  to  hear 
what  will  be  said  to  you  on  this  great 
subject  by  one  of  our  own  citizens  who 
came  from  what  was  once  the  far  west 
to  make  his  home  among  us.  Full  of  the 
inspiration  of  that  great  region,  he  will 
speak  to  you  words  of  appreciation  of 
this  golden  opportunity  that  is  spread 
out  before  not  only  the  people  of  this 
region,  but  of  this  whole  great  country. 

I have  now  the  pleasure  of  introducing 
to  you  Mr.  Alfred  O.  Crozier,  who  will 
give  you  a general  view  of  this  important 
subject.  (Prolonged  applause.) 

“THE  DELAWARE  SHIP  CANAL,” 
By 

Alfred  0.  Crozier,  Esq.,  of  Wilmington. 

Mr.  Toastmaster:  Before  taking  up 
my  subject,  permit  me  to  make  an  an- 
nouncement. Two  months  ago,  when  the 
invitation  to  address  you  in  advocacy  of 
a ship  canal  across  the  Delaware  Penin- 
sula, to  connect  the  Delaware  River  and 
Chesapeake  Bay,  followed  my  suggestion 
at  your  November  meeting  that  we 


HON.  ANTHONY  HIGGINS, 
Delaware. 


HON.  CHARGES  EMORY  SMITH. 
Philadelphia. 


aO&l 


ALFRED  O.  CROZIER.  ESQ., 
Chairman  Executive  Committee. 


THOMAS  H.  SAVERY, 

Vice  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 


19 


should  at  once  organize  for  the  secur- 
ing of  this  great  project,  it  was  currently 
reported  that  the  Pennsylvania,  Balti- 
more & Ohio,  and  Reading  Railroads, 
traversing  Delaware,  would  oppose  the 
construction  of  this  canal,  because  of  its 
competitive  features.  It  seemed  of  the 
highest  importance  that  their  attitude  be 
at  least  ascertained  and,  if  possible,  their 
co-operation  secured.  Accordingly,  I 
took  the  liberty  of  addressing  a letter  to 
the  president  of  each  of  these  railroads, 
setting  forth  in  detail  the  necessity  for 
the  canal,  to  facilitate  the  national  de- 
fense and  commerce,  and  holding  that  it 
would  induce  a local  industrial  develop- 
ment of  much  greater  importance  to  the 
railroads  than  any  freights  which  might 
be  lost  through  its  competition.  In  re- 
ply, President  Cassatt  invited  me  to  meet 
him  in  Philadelphia.  At  the  close  of  our 
conference,  Mr.  Cassatt  authorized  me  to 
announce  to  you  here  to-night  that  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  would  not  oppose 
this  ship  canal,  but  would  favor  it.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  have  the  best  of  reasons  for 
believing  that  the  other  two  lines  will 
also  support  the  project,  although  final 
answers  have  not  yet  been  received  from 
them.  A few  evenings  ago  at  a public 
banquet  in  Baltimore,  retiring  President 
Loree,  of  the  Baltimore  & Ohio  Railroad, 
advocated  this  canal,  saying  it  would 
make  Baltimore  a real  ocean  port,  avoid 
the  dangerous  trip  around  the  Virginia 
capes,  and  save  about  two  hundred  miles 
of  the  distance  to  New  England  ports. 

The  correspondence  on  this  subject  I 
now  place  at  your  disposal. 

Price  of  Peace. 

We  all  devoutly  hope  that  the  peace 
of  America  may  never  again  be  disturb- 
ed. No  one  now  expects  war  with  any 
European  country.  Few  doubt  its  pos- 
sibility. The  unparalleled  growth  of  the 
United  States  in  wealth,  industry,  com- 
merce, power  and  influence,  and  the  gen- 
eral prosperity  and  contentment  of  our 


people  are  well  calculated  to  excite  the 
envy  of  rulers  whose  simple  wish  can 
precipitate  hostilities.  The  Monroe  Doc- 
trine is  not  yet  universally  acquiesced  in. 
Is  there  even  one  great  foreign  power 
which  would  respect  and  observe  our  in- 
junction, “Hands  off  the  American  con- 
tinent,” if  the  United  States  possessed 
no  navy  whatever?  Some  countries  yet 
look  with  covetous  eyes  on  the  fertile 
resources  of  South  America  as  tempting 
territory  for  exploitation  by  their  sur- 
plus population,  whose  allegiance  the 
fatherland  does  not  like  to  lose  perma- 
nently. 

We  are  obliged  for  our  own  safety  to 
take  notice  of  the  fact  that  every  great 
power  is  increasing  its  army  and  navy. 
They  do  not  disclose  their  purpose.  If 
our  peace  and  security  rest  on  force,  or 
the  knowledge  of  our  ready  power,  the 
measure  of  our  preparation  and  the  sole 
limit  to  our  expenditures  for  national  de- 
fense, should  be  its  adequacy  for  any 
emergency,  whether  it  be  the  result  of 
design  or  of  accidental  circumstance. 
(Applause.)  Anything  more  than  this  is 
unjustifiable,  for  the  United  States  will 
never  be  the  aggressor  in  unreasonable 
international  strife. 

The  price  of  peace,  then,  is  to  be  pre- 
pared for  war.  (Applause.)  Preparation 
is  less  expensive  than  actual  hostilities, 
and  more  humane.  If  war  should  come 
again,  it  will  be  sudden,  leaving  us  little 
time  for  preparation,  and  it  will  be  with 
a nation  possessing  an  army  and  navy 
larger  than  our  own. 

National  Defense. 

Washington,  our  national  capital,  with 
its  priceless  records,  and  with  more  than 
one  billion  dollars  of  gold  and  other 
money  in  the  Federal  Treasury,  would  be 
the  natural  object  for  early  attack. 
Everything  contributing  towards  its 
greater  security  should  be  unhesitatingly 
provided  as  an  act  of  the  highest  patriot- 
ism and  pride.  That  city  is  easily  ac- 


20 


cessible  by  way  of  the  Potomac,  which 
flows  into  that  immense  inland  sea,  mid- 
way of  the  Atlantic  coast,  of  which  Dela- 
ware and  Chesapeake  bays  form  the,  two 
great  arms.  These  bays,  with  their  navi- 
gable tributaries,  have  a shore  line  over 
two  thousand  five  hundred  miles  in 
length,  or  longer  than  three  times  the 
distance  from  Maine  to  Florida,  or.  from 
the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  farther  than  from  Wilmington  to 
San  Francisco.  It  is  the  natural  ren- 
dezvous for  our  defensive  fleet,  by  reason 
of  its  central  location,  its  nearness  to 
the  coal  supply,  and  its  numerous  navy 
yards,  dry  docks  and  shipyards.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

But  this  great  body  of  water  is  divided 
by  a pear-shaped  peninsula  two  hundred 
miles  long  suspended  therein  due  south 
by  a narrow  neck  of  land  about  thirteen 
miles  wide  at  the  north  end.  Situated  on 
this  peninsula  is  all  of  Delaware,  nine  of 
the  counties  of  Maryland  and  two  coun- 
ties of  Virginia.  It  is  proposed  to  cut 
this  neck  of  land  with  a ship  canal  about 
thirteen  miles  in  length,  and  deep  enough 
for  the  largest  ocean  vessels.  It  should 
be  built  by  the  Federal  Government  to 
facilitate  the  national  defense  and  com- 
merce, should  be  without  locks,  and  be 
open  and  free  to  all. 

A battleship  at  one  end  of  this  route 
must  now  go  over  four  hundred  miles, 
out  on  the  open  ocean,  past  two  danger- 
ous capes,  to  get  to  the  other  end,  only 
thirteen  miles  distant. 

If  Cape  Horn  had  extended  twenty 
miles  farther  south,  the  battleship  Ore- 
gon, on  her  memorable  voyage  from  the 
Pacific,  would  not  have  arrived  in  time 
to  participate  in  the  great  naval  battle 
of  Santiago,  which,  with  the  battle  of 
Manila  Bay,  did  more  than  any  other  two 
events  of  the  century  to  fix  the  status 
and  influence  of  the  United  States  in  in- 
ternational affairs,  and  to  insure  our  fu- 
ture peace  and  commercial  supremacy. 
(Applause.) 


This  canal  will  reduce  the  water  dis- 
tance between  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more from  more  than  four  hundred  miles 
to  about  one  hundred,  saving  thirty 
hours.  Baltimore  will  then  be  nearly 
two  hundred  miles,  or  twenty  hours 
nearer  by  water  to  New  York,  New  Eng- 
land and  Europe.  % 

The  terminals  of  this  canal  will  be  well 
above  the  forts  which  guard  the  en- 
trances to  the  harbors,  and  it  will  en- 
able the  quick  concentration  at  the  point 
of  hostile  attack  on  either  bay  of  all  the 
war  ships,  torpedo  boats  and  other  craft 
on  both  bays,  reducing  the  number  re- 
quired for  the  defense  of  Washington  and 
the  other  interests  centered  about  this 
locality. 

It  will  aid  in  protecting  the  powder 
supply,  the  manufacture  of  which  is  be- 
ing largely  concentrated  in  this  vicinity. 
This  is  important  (applause)  for  without 
powder,  all  our  armies,  battleships  and 
forts  would  be  useless.  This  was  shown 
during  the  Civil  War,  when  the  supply 
of  saltpetre  for  making  powder  became 
exhausted,  reducing  the  government  to 
desperate  straits.  It  was  LaMotte  Du- 
Pont, of  Delaware,  who  came  to  the  res- 
cue. Going  to  Europe,  he  quietly  bought 
all  of  the  available  supply  of  saltpetre  in 
Great  Britain,  and  when  this  was  dis- 
covered, Parliament  attempted  to  pre- 
vent its  being  shipped,  until  Mr.  DuPont, 
armed  with  a letter  from  President  Lin- 
coln, virtually  threatening  war  against 
England,  forced  the  British  Government 
to  yield.  (Applause.) 

Official  Government  Surveys. 

After  careful  borings  and  surveys,  by 
authority  of  an  Act  of  Congress,  the  gov- 
ernment engineer  reported  that  the  en- 
tire expense  of  constructing  this  ship 
canal  would  be  but  eight  million  dollars. 
The  Navy  Department  informs  me  that 
it  costs  $8,452,000  to  build  and  equip 
one  battleship.  In  his  report,  March, 
1883,  the  War  Department  engineer  said: 


21 


“It  will  be  doubted  by  no  one  that  a 
deep  water  connection  between  the  two 
bays  would  be  of  vast  importance  in  the 
contingency  of  war  witii  a maritime  na- 
tion. Such  a connection  would  provide 
a means  of  concentrating  the  floating 
defenses  of  #the  two  bays,  and  besides 
this,  would  render  more  secure  the  com- 
munication between  the  naval  stations 
of  Philadelphia,  Norfolk  and  Washing- 
ton. 

“Vessels  defending  a port  have  two  of- 
fices to  perform,  the  one  being  to  assist 
in  the  direct  defense,  or  to  prevent  cap- 
ture or  occupation  by  hostile  forces,  the 
other  being  ’the  prevention  or  breaking 
up  of  blockades.’  Without  the  canal,  a 
blockade  of  the  capes  of  the  Delaware 
would  close  the  outward  commerce  of 
Baltimore  and  the  other  ports  of  the 
Chesapeake.  With  the  canal  built  where 
communication  would  be  secure,  neither 
the  ports  of  Philadelphia  nor  of  Balti- 
more could  be  closed  unless  an  effectual 
blockade  were  established  both  at  the 
Delaware  and  Virginia  capes. 

“The  disadvantage  to  the  attacking 
party  is  obvious,  while  the  defending 
vessels  could  concentrate  at  either  out- 
let, and  breaking  the  blockade  at  one 
point  would  open  both  ports  and  render 
the  blockade  useless  at  the  other  outlet. 
It  may  be  admitted  that  if  a war  with 
one  of  the  great  naval  powers  should 
arise,  and  the  mere  appropriation  of  the 
money  could  provide  such  a channel  of 
communication  between  the  bays,  the 
amount  would  be  at  once  provided  with- 
out hesitation.  That  would,  however,  be 
too  late.”  This  is  high,  expert  opinion. 

Under  the  Act  of  Congress,  August, 
1894,  President  Cleveland  appointed  a 
board  of  distinguished  men,  of  which  Ad- 
miral Dewey  was  a member,  to  deter- 
mine “the  most  feasible  route  for  the 
construction  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Del- 
aware canal.”  This  board  reported  to 


the  Secretary  of  War  on  December  8, 
1894,  as  follows: 

“After  examination  of  the  surveys 
heretofore  made  under  the  direction  of 
the  War  Department,  this  board  deter- 
mines the  most  feasible  route  for  the 
construction  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Del- 
aware canal  to  be  the  Back  creek  route, 
which  is  substantially  located  upon  the 
line  of  the  existing  Chesapeake  and  Dela- 
ware canal. 

“In  the  judgment  of  the  board,  this 
route  will  be  the  best  adapted  for  na- 
tional defense  and  will  give  the  greatest 
facility  to  commerce.” 

Every  session  of  Congress  appropriates 
money  for  objects  less  meritorious,  un- 
recommended  by  such  high  authority. 
Why  has  this  vital  project  been  so  long 
delayed  ? 

Delaware  is  particularly  interested  in 
the  improvement  of  the  means  of  na- 
tional defense  in  this  locality,  for  more 
than  three -fourths  of  all  the  homes  in 
the  state  are  within  the  range  of  the 
guns  of  any  hostile  fleet  which  might 
pass  the  forts  below.  (Applause.) 

One  Hundredth  Anniversary. 

The  Wilmington  Board  of  Trade  ar- 
ranged this  occasion  to  begin  the  sys- 
tematic organization  of  a movement  to 
have  the  Federal  Government  convert  the 
present  shallow  Chesapeake  and  Dela- 
ware canal  into  a ship  canal  adequate  for 
all  purposes.  This  we  expect  to  accom- 
plish through  the  active  co-operation  of 
the  five  great  states  lying  on  the  Dela- 
ware and  the  Chesapeake.  We  had  no 
thought  of  the  interesting  fact  which  I 
discovered  a few  days  ago  in  a book  over 
eighty  years  old,  by  Joshua  Gilpin,  that 
we  can  to-night  properly  celebrate  the 
one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  actual 
beginning  of  the  work  of  digging  a canal 
across  Delaware  on  substantially  the 
present  route — in  1804,  just  a century 


22 


ago.  (Applause.)  This  was  done  by 
leading  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land and  Delaware,  each  subscribing  con- 
siderable money  for  the  purpose. 

The  United  States  then  had  but  5,308,- 
483  population,  of  which  40  per  cent,  2,- 
113,628,  were  in  the  five  states  on  these 
waters.  If  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  other 
far-seeing  men,  thought  the  small  popu- 
lation, nominal  industrial  development 
and  light  draft  boat  commerce  of  the 
time  justified  a canal  across  the  penin- 
sult  then,  what  shall  we  say  of  its  neces- 
sity now? 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  Gilpin  book, 
a prominent  member  of  the  board  has 
placed  in  my  hands  an  old  history  of  Ce- 
cil county,  Maryland,  in  which  county  is 
the  western  terminal  of  the  canal.  In 
this  history  I find  that  this  canal  was  ac- 
tually projected  in  1680,  224  years  ago. 
Since  this  discovery,  I learn  that  there  is 
a place  near  the  head  of  Chesapeake  bay 
called  Mount  Ararat,  and  I feel  sure  that 
if  I were  to  search  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  we  might  find  that  Noah  was 
the  original  projector  of  a canal  across 
the  peninsula,  that  he  might  get  the  ark 
through  into  the  Delaware  river  and  pas- 
ture his  animals  on  the  fertile  plains  of 
Southern  New  Jersey.  (Laughter  and 
applause.) 

The  Legislature  of  Maryland,  in  1812, 
when  war  with  England  was  threatened, 
passed  an  act  containing  the  following: 

“Whereas,  During  the  time  of  war 
against  the  United  States  of  America, 
completion  of  the  work  of  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Delaware  canal  would  be  bene- 
ficial to  the  United  States,  by  forming 
the  great  link  of  an  inland  navigation  of 
six  or  seven  hundred  miles,  and  thereby 
establish  a perfectly  safe,  easy  and  rapid 
transportaion  of  our  armies  and  the  mu- 
nitions of  war  through  the  interior  of 
the  country,  and  which  would  ever  tend 


to  operate  as  a cement  to  the  union  be- 
tween the  states;  and, 

“Whereas,  The  prosperity  and  agri- 
cultural interest  of  the  State  of  Mary- 
land, the  commonwealth  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  Delaware  State,  are  more 
deeply  interested  than  their  sister  states 
in  the  useful  work  of  opening  a com- 
munication between  the  Chesapeake  bay 
and  the  river  Delaware,  by  means  of  said 
Chesapeake  and  Delaware  canal;  there- 
fore,” etc. 

The  Canal  and  Commerce. 

Bordering  on  these  two  waterways  are 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Delaware  and  the  District  of 
Columbia.  These  now  contain  a popula- 
tion of  12,000,000,  or  about  one-sixth  that 
of  the  United  States.  Their  land  area, 
108,810  square  miles,  is  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  England,  Ireland,  Scotland  and 
Wales  combined,  which  have  111,535 
square  miles.  These  states  grouped 
about  Delaware  have  enormous  resources 
and  activities.  According  to  the  United 
States  census  of  1900,  they  have  89,864 
manufacturing  establishments,  with  $2,- 
405,153,532  capital,  employing  1,203,339 
wage  earners,  who  annually  receive  $527,- 
258,921  in  wages,  turning  out  products 
valued  at  $2,914,420,945,  and  using  raw 
materials  worth  $1,668,652,051.  Their 
farm  property  is  worth  $1,821,557,247, 
and  their  mines,  city  property  and  rail- 
ways, many  times  more.  The  western 
group  of  eleven  states  and  territories, 
with  ten  times  the  area,  has  but  one- 
third  as  much  population  and  manufac- 
tories, one-sixth  the  capital  and  em- 
ployes, one-fifth  the  wages  and  one- 
fourth  the  products. 

The  route  of  this  ship  canal  will  be 
near  the  center  of  this  eastern  group  of 
states,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  to 
the  north,  having  53,030  square  miles; 
and  Maryland,  Virginia  and  the  District 
of  Columbia,  to  the  south,  54,730  square 


miles.  Delaware,  in  the  middle,  is  where 
it  is  proposed  to  dig  the  canal  and  estab- 
lish a runway  of  trade,  and  thus  cut 
away  the  dividing  barrier  which  now  ob- 
structs the  free  play  of  commerce  be- 
tween these  sections,  bringing  all  places 
on  the  2,500  miles  of  shore  line  into 
quick  and  easy  communication  with  each 
other,  each  of  which  will  be  within  less 
than  two  hundred  miles  of  the  canal, 
which  distance  will  also  include  most  of 
the  vast  wealth  and  population  of  these 
states.  (Applause.)  This  territory  is 
also  the  natural  outlet  for  still  greater 
areas  and  more  numerous  industries  and 
activities  lying  to  the  westward. 

Canals  of  the  World. 

Of  the  24,700  miles  of  canals  in  the 
world,  Europe  has  13,591;  India,  2,240; 
China,  5,270;  Canada,  535,  and  the  United 
States,  3,064  miles.  Those  of  France, 
Belgium  and  Germany  connect  the  great 
sources  of  supply  and  production  with 
the  chief  consuming  centers  or  with  tide 
water,  and  they  are  being  constantly  ex- 
tended and  enlarged.  In  Russia,  a canal 
boat  can  now  go  from  the  Caspian  Sea  i>o 
St.  Petersburg  and  Archangel,  2,500 
miles;  and  a ship  canal  thirty  feet  deep 
and  one  thousand  miles  long  is  being 
planned  to  connect  the  Baltic  and  Black 
seas,  for  national  defense  and  commerce. 
On  Russian  canals,  60,000  canal  boats  are 
employed. 

The  Manchester  ship  canal,  in  England, 
to  which  the  distinguished  gentleman 
from  Pennsylvania  has  referred,  is  twen- 
ty-six feet  deep  and  thirty-five  miles 
long,  and  it  cost  $75,000,000.  It  has 
made  that  city  one  of  the  greatest  manu- 
facturing and  distributing  centers  in  the 
world,  converting  the  declining  inland 
town  of  ten  years  ago  into  an  ocean  port 
of  unexcelled  prosperity,  with  direct  boat 
lines  regularly  touching  168  of  the  lead- 
ing ports  of  the  world.  It  was  opened 


on  January  1,  1894,  and  in  the  interven- 
ing ten  years  it  has  saved  the  district 
tributary  thereto  more  than  $40,000,000 
in  freight  charges.  One  wholesale  firm 
announced  that  it  received  back  during 
the  first  eight  months  the  entire  $100,000 
it  subscribed,  by  saving  in  freights  alone. 
(Applause.) 

The  Panama  canal,  (applause)  soon  to 
be  built  by  the  United  States  at  a cost 
of  about  $200,000,000,  to  facilitate  com- 
merce and  the  national  defense,  will  give 
to  all  deep  Atlantic  ports  the  timber  and 
other  raw  products  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  enable  the  shipment  of  our  manufac- 
tured goods  to  China,  a distance  of  10,000 
miles,  for  a lower  freight  charge  than  is 
now  made  by  rail  from  Wilmington  to 
Chicago. 

The  Suez  canal  traffic,  in  1898,  was 

8.000. 000  tons,  while  that  of  St.  Mary’s 
Lake  Superior  ship  canal  was  more  than 

21.000. 000  tons. 

The  “Soo,”  Welland  and  St.  Lawrence 
canals  give  Canada  a water  route  from 
the  Great  Lakes  to  the  ocean,  which  is 
already  diverting  an  enormous  tonnage. 

New  York  State  Canals. 

During  the  past  eighty  years,  the  State 
of  New  York  has  constructed  638  miles 
of  canals,  at  a cost  of  $71,386,092,  and 
her  people  have  recently  voted  actually 
to  bond  themselves  for  the  enormous  sum 
of  $100,000,000  to  deepen  and  improve 
them.  The  effect  of  their  canals  is  re- 
vealed in  the  immense  growth  of  such 
cities  as  Buffalo,  Tonawanda,  Lockport, 
Rochester,  Syracuse,  Rome,  Utica,  Schen- 
ectady, Troy,  Albany  and  New  York. 
According  to  the  report  of  the  board  ap- 
pointed by  President  Roosevelt,  when 
Governor  of  New  York,  which  recom- 
mended this  improvement,  80  per  cent  of 
the  assessable  property  of  the  State,  and 
90  per  cent  of  the  population,  are  in 
canal  counties.  Wherever  canals  have 


24 


been  abandoned,  towns  and  industries 
have  declined;  wherever  canals  have  been 
built,  they  thrive  and  prosper.  This  is 
the  history  of  80  years.  (Applause.) 

Supremacy  of  New  York. 

Why  has  the  city  of  New  York  become 
the  metropolis  of  America,  the  principal 
outlet  for  our  exports,  and  the  commer- 
cial and  financial  clearing  house  of  the 
United  States?  In  1820,  the  population 
was:  Baltimore,  96,201;  Philadelphia, 

135,637;  New  York,  137,016;  in  1900, 
Baltimore,  508,957;  Philadelphia,  1,293,- 
697;  New  York,  3,438,202.  The  people  of 
Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  say  they  are 
as  enterprising  as  those  of  New  York. 
New  York  is  much  farther  from  the  cen- 
ter of  population,  and  from  the  average 
sources  of  grain  and  other  export  pro- 
ducts, than  Philadelphia  or  Baltimore, 
lrom  which  cities  it  costs  no  more  to  ex 
port  to  foreign  ports,  and  less  to  bring 
the  products  from  the  interior.  Why, 
then,  with  superior  geographical  position, 
have  they  been  so  badly  distanced  by 
New  York  in  the  great  struggle  for  in- 
dustrial, civic,  financial  and  commercial 
supremacy?  Was  not  the  initial,  con- 
tinuous, and  largely  controlling  factor, 
in  favor  of  New  York,  her  superior  har- 
bor and  adjacent  navigable  waters?  If 
she  has  better  steamship  lines,  reaching 
more  foreign  markets,  it  is  because  of 
her  perfect  harbor.  If  she  has  more  rail- 
roads and  trunk  line  terminals,  they  had 
to  go  there,  at  greater  expense,  to  con- 
nect with  the  boats  attracted  there  by 
her  superior  harbor,  so  as  to  participate 
in  the  fruits  of  export  and  import  com- 
merce and  foreign  immigration.  If  in- 
dustries have  crowded  about  her,  it  was 
to  obtain  the  extra  facilities  developed 
by  reason  of  her  maritime  excellence.  If 
she  has  become  the  great  populous  center 
of  the  continent,  her  fine  harbor  has 
made  that  city  the  landing  place  of  mil- 


lions of  people  who  left  their  native 
countries  to  seek  permanent  homes  in 
the  land  of  liberty  and  opportunity.  If 
she  has  become  the  enriched  financial 
power  of  America,  her  natural  facilities 
have  given  her  the  advantage  of  the 
hunter  stationed  on  the  runway.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

The  rapid  absorption  by  New  York  of 
an  undue  proportion  of  commerce,  at  the 
expense  of  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore, 
will  go  on  until  the  harbors  and  water- 
ways of  these  two  cities  are  deepened 
and  placed  upon  a par  with  those  of  New 
York.  (Applause.)  Then  the  shorter 
distance  to  the  western  supply,  the  more 
favorable  weather  and  climatic  condi- 
tions, the  lower  expense  for  terminals 
and  manufacturing  sites,  the  less  con- 
gestion of  traffic,  and  the  nearer  supply 
of  coal,  iron,  cotton  and  timber  from  the 
South,  may  stem  the  tide  and  ultimately 
induce  a commercial  and  industrial  de- 
velopment of  enormous  proportions  on 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware  river  and 
Chesapeake  bay.  This  will  not  be  until 
these  waters  have  a depth  to  insure  safe 
transit  to  the  largest  vessels  afloat,  when 
it  will  be  possible  to  establish  direct  boat 
lines  to  all  leading  foreign  ports,  and  to 
those  of  the  Gulf  and  Pacific  coast,  to 
promote  the  exchange  of  products  at 
moderate  charges. 

Wilmington. 

Wilmington  has  everything  to  gain 
and  nothing  to  lose  by  these  improve- 
ments. With  the  Delaware  ship  canal 
completed,  boat  lines  between  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore  will  stop  once  at 
each  of  those  places  and  twice  at  Wil- 
mington. Trans-Atlantic  boats  of  both 
those  cities  should  then  touch  here,  giv- 
ing us  the  best  possible  transportation 
abroad.  There  is  every  reason  for  believ- 
ing that  Wilmington  is  to  become  a great 
industrial  center.  Already  her  industries 
are  large,  diversified  and  numerous.  She 


25 


has  unsurpassed  natural  advantages,  and 
her  enterprising  people  are  becoming  con- 
scious of  their  opportunity,  and  deter- 
mined, by  loyal  co-operation,  to  make 
the  most  thereof  for  the  good  of  the  town. 
(Applause.)  But  to  avail  herself  of  these 
great  possibilities,  Wilmington  must  go 
to  the  Delaware  for  its  water  front. 
(Applause.)  The  largest  ocean  boats  will 
not  come  into  the  Christiana.  This  city 
should  at  once  acquire  and  hold  forever 
the  land  lying  along  the  Delaware  within 
its  limits,  or  as  much  thereof  as  possible, 
as  New  York  city  did  in  an  early  day. 
Much  of  it  can  now  be  secured  by  gift, 
or  at  a comparatively  low  cost.  It  is  the 
only  certain  way  to  insure  our  industries 
permanent  access  to  deep  water  boats, 
and  it  will  play  an  important  part  in  in- 
ducing the  location  here  of  enterprises 
for  all  time  to  come.  (Applause.)  If 
this  be  neglected  until  some  railroad  or 
other  interest  monopolizes  this  frontage, 
we  shall  witness  the  location  of  many 
new  industries,  and  some  old  •ones,  on 
the  river  far  beyond  the  limits  of  Wil- 
mington, where  they  w ill  be  of  much  less 
benefit  to  the  city. 

Securing  New  Enterprises. 

Delaware,  we  believe,  is  the  only  state 
in  which  personal  property  is  entirely  ex- 
empt from  taxation.  Her  corporation 
franchise  taxes  meet  all  of  the  expenses 
of  the  state,  and  the  tax  on  real  estate 
and  licenses,  all  local  requirements.  This 
should  be  a powerful  inducement  for  in- 
dustries to  locate  in  Delaware.  But  no 
factor  is  as  potent  in  obtaining  new  en- 
terprises as  water  transportation.  To 
this  fact  is  due  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  great  cities  of  the  country, 
nearly  all  of  which  are  upon  navigable 
waters.  (Applause.)  Would  Philadel- 
phia, Wilmington  or  Baltimore  be  the 
great  cities  they  are  to-day  if  situated 
inland,  even  a few  miles?  It  would  be 


interesting  to  know  what  would  remain 
of  industrial  Wilmington  if  she  should 
lose  every  enterprise  which  has  come, 
or  grown  up,  here  because  the  city  is  on 
navigable  water.  The  water  is  the  de- 
termining factor  in  the  location,  even  if 
the  industry  thereafter  uses  the  railroads 
exclusively. 

If  the  local  railroads  are  the  chief  bene- 
ficiaries of  the  business  of  enterprises  lo- 
cating along  their  rails  because  of  the 
presence  of  water  transportation,  we 
may  reasonably  expect  their  co-operation 
in  improving  the  waterways,  that  more 
industries  may  be  attracted  thereby.  Cer- 
tainly so,  if  it  is  also  the  means  of  bring- 
ing this  way  increasing  volumes  of  export 
and  import  commerce  for  them  to  trans- 
port to  and  from  the  interior,  keeping  the 
same  from  being  diverted  to  other 
ports,  over  other  railroads  or  water 
routes.  The  great  struggle  for  this  im- 
mense interior  business  is  now  on.  The 
Canadian,  New  York,  New  Orleans,  and 
other  routes  are  doing  everything  to  at- 
tract and  control  this  rich  stream  of  an- 
nual commerce.  They  are  enlarging  their 
terminals,  establishing  boat  lines,  and 
improving  their  harbors.  If  our  local 
railroads  make  New  York  their  transfer 
point,  they  must  stand  greater  terminal 
expenses  and  delays,  and  divide  the  busi- 
ness with  other  lines.  Here,  they  would 
get  it  all,  and  the  long  haul  to  and  from 
the  West. 

Delaware’s  Future. 

What  is  to  be  the  destiny  of  Delaware  ? 
Here  she  is  centrally  located,  in  the  very 
lap  of  luxury,  with  an  ideal  climate, 
neither  extremely  hot  or  cold,  the  para- 
dise of  the  toiler,  the  cost  of  living  low, 
and  no  severe  storms  to  impede  industry. 
(Applause.)  The  state  is  on  a line  with 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  Denver  and  San 
Francisco  to  the  westward,  and  the 
Mediterranean  sea  to  the  eastward.  One- 


26 


half  of  Delaware  lies  farther  south  than 
Washington.  Its  soil  is  fertile  and  cap- 
able of  yielding  many  times  its  present 
production. 

The  problem  of  industry  and  agricult- 
ure is  largely  one  of  markets  and  trans- 
portation. Railroad  rates  are  all  based 
on  mileage.  An  average  haul  from  Wil- 
mington of  less  than  three  hundred  miles 
will  reach  more  than  one-half  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  From  the  geo- 
graphical center  of  the  country,  the  aver- 
age would  be  more  than  one  thousand 
miles. 

Across  the  Atlantic,  populations  larger 
than  that  of  the  entire  United  States 
are  at  our  very  doors,  for  they  can  be 
reached  at  less  expense  than  the  freight 
charge  by  rail  from  Wilmington  to  Pitts- 
burg. (Applause.)  In  fact,  some  arti- 
cles can  be  shipped  four  thousand  miles 
by  water  to  Hamburg,  Germany,  for 
about  the  freight  charge  made  by  rail 
thirty  miles,  from  Wilmington  to  Phila- 
delphia. The  Atlantic  ports  of  North 
America,  and  the  60,000,000  people  of 
South  America,  are  also  within  our  easy 
reach,  as  will  be  the  ports  of  the  Pacific, 
on  completion  of  the  Panama  canal. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  railroads  to 
make  their  rates  as  low  as  those  by  wa- 
ter, because  of  the  greater  cost  of  con- 
struction, maintenance,  operation  and 
terminals.  The  average  freight  charge 
per  ton  per  mile  on  all  of  the  two  hun- 
dred thousand  miles  of  railroads  in  this 
country  is  ten  times  as  much  as  the  av- 
erage charge  per  ton  per  mile  by  water — 
a significant  fact,  to  be  used  with  great 
power  in  inducing  industries  to  locate 
here  on  tide  water.  (Applause.)  Never- 
theless, the  great  railroad  systems  tra- 
versing our  state  will  be  important  fac- 
tors in  our  industrial  growth,  connecting 
us  with  the  markets  and  raw  products  of 
the  interior. 

This  industrial  development  will  create 


new  markets  and  better  demand  and 
prices  for  the  products  of  rural  Dela- 
ware. The  improved  facilities  will  re- 
duce the  relative  expense  of  production 
and  marketing,  and  justify  doubling  the 
output,  which  would  only  glut  the  local 
market  and  lower  prices,  if  this  new  de- 
mand is  not  so  created  and  maintained. 
(Applause.) 

Honor  and  Glory  of  Delaware. 

The  people  of  Delaware  are  unitedly  in 
favor  of  the  Assawaman,  Christiana, 
Delaware,  and  every  other  waterway  im- 
provement which  will  benefit  any  part  of 
the  state,  for  each  will  contribute  to- 
wards our  general  prosperity.  (Ap- 
plause.) Linked  together,  then,  as  we 
all  are,  by  ties  of  personal  interest,  state 
and  city  pride,  the  industrial  welfare  of 
this  section,  and  greater  security  for  our 
country’s  capital,  let  us  join  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  everything  which  will 
promote  the  honor  and  glory  of  Dela- 
ware. (Applause.)  This  unselfish  co- 
operation for  the  benefit  of  all  will  be  an 
inspiration  ultimately  leading  to  the  bet- 
terment of  social  and  moral  conditions, 
uplifting  Delaware  in  the  eyes  of  other 
states,  and  opening  the  way  for  the  in- 
evitable drift  of  commerce  and  industry 
to  our  hospitable  shores.  The  kindling  of 
great  ambitions  and  hopes  in  the  breast 
of  Delaware  will  excite  admiration,  and 
not  envy,  in  the  hearts  of  her  big  sister 
states  gathered  about  us;  for  the  frui- 
tion of  these  hopes  must  contribute  in 
equal  measure  to  their  own  growth  and 
prosperity.  We  must  pull  together  for 
each  and  for  all.  (Applause.) 

We  are  in  a vineyard  of  natural  ad- 
vantages which  nature  has  twined  about 
us,  loaded  with  the  fruit  of  unlimited 
possibilities.  We  have  but  to  cultivate, 
pluck  and  eat.  If  we  are  sober  under  the 
stimulus  of  prosperity,  and  do  not  un- 
duly inflate  the  prices  of  property  needed 


27 


for  industry  and  homes,  nothing  can 
stop  the  growth  which  will  alike  benefit 
the  farmer,  the  artisan,  the  manufact- 
urer, the  merchant,  the  professional  man, 
the  property  holder  and  the  capitalist. 
(Applause.) 

Industrialize  Delaware. 

Then  why  not  industrialize  all  of  Dela- 
ware? The  construction  of  this  ship 
canal  by  the  national  government  will 
attract  the  attention  of  the  entire  indus- 
trial world  to  the  enormous  advantages 
of  this  locality.  It  will  surely  be  follow- 
ed by  the  conversion  of  the  present  canal 
connecting  Delaware  river  and  New  York 
harbor  into  a ship  canal  for  the  passage 
of  our  defensive  fleets,  giving  us  easy 
access  to  the  markets  of  that  great  city, 
and  enabling  the  delivery  on  our  own 
docks  of  iron  ore  from  the  mines  of  Lake 
Superior,  by  way  of  the  improved  Erie 
canal,  without  a single  transfer,  at  a 
transportation  charge  permitting  us  to 
outrival  Pittsburg  in  the  cost  of  produc- 
ing iron  and  steel,  which  we  can  then  de- 
liver at  our  seaport  cities,  and  foreign 
countries,  for  less  than  Pittsburg  must 
pay  to  get  her  products  to  the  coast.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  have  the  necessary  coal  and 
limestone,  and  this  will  also  bring  us 
many  other  industries  using  iron  and 
steel. 

Surely,  there  is  a great  future  for  in- 
dustrial, agricultural  and  municipal  Dela- 
ware. (Applause.)  With  a hundred 
miles  of  deep  water  dock  frontage,  past 
which  will  sweep  rich  streams  of  annual 
commerce  from  the  interior  to  all  parts 
of  the  world,  with  returning  vessels  laden 
with  raw  materials  for  industries  which 
can  here  find  the  best  facilities  for  pro- 
duction and  shipment,  who  can  safely 
predict  the  limit  of  the  future  develop- 
ment of  our  state? 

Considering  Delaware  and  Chesapeake 
bays  as  one  great  harbor  with  two  en- 


trances, as  it  will  be  when  this  ship 
canal  is  built,  we  have  here  the  substan- 
tial counterpart  of  New  York  harbor, 
only  on  a more  enormous  scale.  Dela- 
ware, like  New  York  city,  will  then  be 
upon  an  island,  with  enlivening  commerce 
on  all  sides.  (Applause.) 

There  is,  then,  every  reasonable  hope 
that  the  day  will  come  when  the  advan- 
tage of  superior  location,  climate,  and 
other  natural  causes,  reinforced  by  wise 
and  aggressive  action  on  our  part,  will 
be  the  means  of  building  about  the  in- 
viting shores  of  this  unexcelled  harbor, 
the  greatest  industrial  center  on  the 
American  continent.  (Prolonged  ap- 
plause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Mr.  Blanch- 
ard Randall,  of  Baltimore,  said: 

“Gentlemen:  We  in  Delaware  are  al- 
ways glad  to  hear  from  the  great  city  of 
Baltimore,  with  whose  people  we  have 
many  bonds  of  sympathy  and  many  sub- 
jects of  common  interest.  You  will  now 
have  tne  pleasure  of  hearing  the  last  reg- 
ular toast  of  the  evening,  which  treats 
of  the  canal  as  a commercial  necessity, 
by  the  Honorable  Blanchard  Randall,  of 
Baltimore,  President  of  the  National 
Board  of  Trade.”  (Prolonged  applause.) 

“A  COMMERCIAL  NECESSITY,” 

By 

Blanchard  Randall,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore, 

President  National  Board  of  Trade. 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  of  Wilmington:  I have 
been  carried  along  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  occasion,  and  now  feel  that  the  whole 
case  has  been  proved.  I come  from  Bal- 
timore to  say  simply  that  we  are  and 
always  have  been  with  you.  (Applause.) 
There  is  an  impression  abroad  that  Bal- 
timore is  not  in  favor  of  this  canal.  It 
is  a mistake.  I know,  and  can  say  that 
from  the  very  best  authority.  For  the 


28 


last  ten  years  I have  been,  perhaps,  more 
deeply  interested  in  this  question  of 
waterways  than  any  other  citizen  in  Bal- 
timore. 

I want  to  tell  you  another  interesting 
thing  in  this  connection,  referred  to  by 
the  last  speaker,  (Mr.  Crozier)  which  is 
that  the  first  waterway  projected  be- 
tween Delaware  and  Maryland  was  pro- 
posed by  a Marylander.  (Laughter.) 
Augustine  Hermann,  Lord  Baltimore’s 
surveyor,  who  lived  down  here  in  Cecil 
county,  was  the  first  who  thought  of  a 
canal.  It  was  in  1670  that  he  surveyed 
the  whole  district,  and  at  this  day  his 
map  of  it  is  in  London,  in  a good  state 
of  preservation.  One  hundred  years 
later  this  scheme  was  thoroughly  ex- 
ploited by  Thomas  Gilpin  and  other 
Philadelphians,  and  their  work  has  been 
preserved  in  a volume  entitled  “A  Mem- 
oir of  the  Rise,  Progress  and  Present 
State  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware 
Canal,”  edited  by  Joshua  Gilpin,  the  son 
of  Thomas  Gilpin.  The  book  was  pub- 
lished here  in  Wilmington  early  in  the 
19th  century.  However,  the  canal  was 
not  actually  begun  till  1824,  and  it  was 
finished  some  years  later. 

One  special  idea  which  seems  pre- 
dominant, emphasized  by  our  distin- 
guished friend  from  the  late  cabinet, 
(Mr.  Smith)  is  that  preparedness  is  what 
we  want.  My  friend,  the  late  lamented 
Mr.  Hollis,  Secretary  of  the  Hague  Con- 
ference, told  me  that  the  whole  cost  to 
the  United  States  of  that  conference  just 
about  equalled  the  cost  of  one  day’s 
practice  with  great  guns  on  the  Cruiser 
Chicago.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  I 
think,  gentlemen,  that  is  a fact  for  us  to 
think  over.  The  cost  of  this  canal  bears 
about  the  same  proportion  to  its  value. 
It  is  trifling  in  comparison  with  its  ad- 
vantages to  commerce  and  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  country. 


Baltimore  for  the  Canal. 

I think  the  whole  question  has  been 
thoroughly  discussed.  The  arguments 
adduced  in  favor  of  the  canal  are  unan- 
swerable. I can  add  nothing  to  them. 
Prom  the  standpoint  of  commercial  ne- 
cessity, however,  I may  say  that  we  in 
Baltimore  join  you  with  the  greatest  en 
thusiasm  in  the  advocacy  of  this  pro 
ject,  and  in  our  willingness  to  co-operate 
with  you.  We  wish  the  Government  to 
take  hold  of  this  project.  We  wish  you 
to  take  hold  of  it  and  help  them  and 
help  us. 

We  feel  that  the  cause  of  national  de- 
fense is  the  prime  reason,  as  I have  said, 
although  commercial  advantages  are  no 
doubt  sufficient  to  present  the  project  in 
a favorable  light  to  our  national  legis- 
lature. 

We,  in  Maryland,  are  already  engaged 
in  the  very  project  you  have  in  hand. 
We  are  deepening  the  canal  on  the  other 
side.  We  are  this  day  digging  a ditch  in 
the  Chesapeake,  which  is  to  be  35  feet 
deep  from  our  canal  to  the  sea.  We  are 
getting  ready  for  you,  gentlemen,  and  we 
will  join  you  as  soon  as  you  are  ready  to 
connect  with  us. 

8,ooo  Vessels  on  Chesapeake. 

Do  not  forget  that  we  shall  bring  to 
this  canal  one  of  the  greatest  fleets  that 
can  be  congregated  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  Eight  thousand  vessels  are  reg- 
istered in  the  State  of  Maryland  as  be- 
longing to  the  Chesapeake  bay.  The  ton- 
nage of  tnese  8,000  vessels  compares 
very  favorably  with  that  of  some  of  our 
great  trans-Atlantic  lines.  When  you 
consider  that  the  Chesapeake  bay,  with 
500  rivers  and  creeks  forming  part  of  its 
geography,  equals  in  coast  line  the  At- 
lantic seaboard  from  Florida  to  Maine, 
you  will  see  that  we  bring  here  to  you 
and  to  this  proposition,  a factor  of  su- 
preme importance. 


29 


Whether  our  business  will  drift  to  you 
through  the  canal,  or  the  business  from 
your  city  down  to  us,  is  a question  to  be 
decided  by  enterprise  and  commercial  su- 
periority. 

Gentlemen,  the  people  of  Baltimore,  if 
L may  be  so  proud  as  to  represent  them, 
send  you  greeting,  and  wish  you,  in  the 
name  of  the  commercial  interests  of  our 

city,  God  speed  in  your  enterprise.  (Pro- 
longed applause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Congressman 
John  F.  Lacey,  of  Iowa,  said: 

Gentlemen : What  do  you  suppose 

Augustine  Hermann,  that  great  and  ad- 
venturous colonizer  of  those  early  days — 
more  than  225  years  ago— knowing  as  he 
did  that  the  natural  thing  to  do  was  to 
connect  the  two  bays  by  an  artificial 
channel,  would  have  thought  when  he 
viewed  this  narrow  neck  of  land,  then 
covered  by  forests  and  traversed  by  In- 
dians, if  he  had  been  told  that  more  than 
two  centuries  and  a quarter  would  elapse 
before  the  project  would  be  completed? 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  here  to-day 
to  vindicate  our  own  intelligence  and  sa- 
gacity by  urging  with  all  the  energy  that 
we  possess  the  consummation  of  this 
great  undertaking. 

If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  an- 
other that  has  impressed  my  mind,  and 
doubtless  yours  also,  it  is  that  this  is  not 
an  undertaking  interesting  only  to  the 
communities  living  on  the  shores  of  these 
great  bays  and  to  the  adjacent  states, 
but  that  it  is  a work  of  national  interest 
and  concern.  It  affects  the  defense  of 
our  country,  the  safety  of  our  people  and 
our  strength  in  the  future.  As  an  evi 
dence  of  this  wre  have  here  a national 
statesman  whose  home  is  more  than 
twelve  hundred  miles  away,  and  who  is 
well  and  worthily  representing  a portion 
of  the  great  State  of  Iowa  in  the  halls  of 
Congress — I mean  the  Honorable  John 
F.  Lacey,  who  is  here  as  our  guest.  (Ap- 
plause.) Although  he  has  not  been  an- 


nounced, I am  very  glad  to  take  the  lib- 
erty of  calling  upon  him  to  say  some- 
thing upon  the  national  aspect  of  this 
great  project.  (Prolonged  applause.) 

REMARKS  OF  REPRESENTATIVE 
JOHN  F.  LACEY,  OF  IOWA. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I live 
in  and  have  the  honor  to  represent  a con- 
gressional district  about  the  size  of  Del- 
aware, that  does  not  have  a yard  of 
navigable  water  in  it.  (Laughter.)  It  is 
covered  with  the  richest  soil  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and,  in  fact,  if  it  were  pro- 
posed to  dig  a canal  through  that  district 
as  wide  and  as  deep  as  the  one  proposed 
by  you,  the  people  would  hesitate  about 
spoiling  so  much  good  land.  (Laughter.) 
At  a banquet  a few  years  ago  in  the  lit- 
tle city  of  Pella,  a gentleman  was  called 
upon  to  give  a toast  to  the  town.  He 
said,  “Here’s  to  Pella;  she  spoils  a good 
farm.”  (Laughter.) 

Gentlemen,  you  must  remember  that 
the  edge  of  anything  is  only  valuable 
when  it  is  the  edge.  What  makes  Balti- 
more, Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Wil- 
mington important  is  the  fact  that  they 
are  upon  the  edge  of  the  great  West. 
(Laughter.)  Two  hundred  years  ago  my 
paternal  ancestor  settled  at  Indian  Creek, 
down  in  the  lower  corner,  the  jumping- 
off  place  in  Delaware,  and  I have  always 
felt  an  interest  in  Delaware  ever  since  I 
have  heard  its  name.  Now,  this  enter- 
prise that  you  are  interested  in  is  val- 
uable because  of  the  great  country  in  the 
rear  which  has,  through  these  channels, 
an  opening  to  the  outside  world,  and  here 
you  will  stand  and  take  toll  as  our  pro- 
ducts come  and  go.  Down  at  Norfolk 
they  are  planning  for  a great  exposition 
to  commemorate  the  settlement  of 
Jamestown,  which  was  the  greatest  event 
that  has  occurred  since  the  birth  of  our 
Savior.  There  it  was  that  the  first  com- 
monwealth was  founded.  There  it  was 
that  the  germ  was  planted  from 
which  has  grown  this  wonderful  combi- 
nation of  commonwealths  known  as  the 


30 


American  Republic.  (Applause.)  That 
is  the  great  historic  center  of  America. 
Wilmington  is  the  explosive  center — 
(Laughter),  and  I have  been  told,  and 
I thought,  till  I heard  Mr.  Charles  Em- 
ory’s speech  to-night,  that  solemn,  old 
Philadelphia  is  the  center  of  gravity. 
(Laughter.)  I shall  take  that  back,  it  is 
the  center  of  wit,  of  humor  and  of  logic 
as  well.  (Applause.)  The  center  of  ag- 
riculture of  this  country  is  Iowa. 
(Laughter.)  That  is  no  laughing  matter 
either.  (Renewed  laughter.) 

I remember,  Mr.  ex-Postmaster  Gen- 
eral, that  when  you  had  an  exposition  in 
Philadelphia  in  1876,  Iowa  was  called 
upon  to  make  an  exhibit  there,  and  the 
best  exhibit  we  made  in  that  city  was  a 
collection  of  thirty  or  forty  glass  jars, 
higher  than  I could  reach  and  about  a 
foot  in  diameter,  each  filled  with  a sec- 
tion of  Iowa  soil,  just  as  it  came;  so  the 
people  of  this  country  could  look  on  it 
and  see  what  soil  is  like  that  needs  no 
fertilizer.  That  same  exhibit  was  taken 
to  the  Chicago  Exposition  and  set  up 
there.  There  was  nothing  better  that  we 
could  send,  although  we  did  send  many 
other  good  things.  One  day  a careless 
fellow  was  wheeling  a truck  around  those 
glass  jars.  He  struck  one  of  them,  broke 
it  and  scattered  the  precious  soil  around 
for  ten  or  fifteen  feet.  After  a few  min- 
utes a New  England  gentleman  came  by 
with  his  daughter.  She  held  up  her 
skirts  and  started  to  walk  through  that 
dirt,  but  the  old  gentleman  said,  “Mary, 
Mary,  don’t  step  in  that;  that  is  Iowa 
soil;  it  will  make  your  feet  grow.’ 
(Long  continued  laughter.) 

I am  reminded  to-night  that  we  often 
gain  by  looking  backward.  The  first  in- 
vention of  steam  traction  was  what  is 
now  known  as  the  automobile,  then 
called  a road  engine.  That  preceded  the 
railroad,  and  Leitch  Ritchie,  in  one  of 
his  books,  learnedly  discussed  the  prob- 
lem as  to  whether  a railroad  that  was 
then  being  projected  from  Havre  to  Paris 


was  practicable.  He  said  that  it  was  not. 
It  might,  he  said,  be  used  on  level  ground, 
but  what  if  you  struck  a grade?  Then 
you  would  need  cogs  on  the  wheels  so 
they  would  not  slip.  He  decided  that  the 
railroad  was  not  a good  means  of  traffic, 
but  that  the  road  engine  was.  Sixty 
years  have  passed  by,  and  the  road  en- 
gine, now  known  as  the  automobile,  has 
come  to  stay.  The  velocipede  was  inven- 
ted, tried  and  used  for  many  years,  then 
discarded.  Someone  invented  the  im- 
proved rubber  tire,  and  now  the  veloci- 
pede, known  as  the  bicycle,  is  seen  every 
day  upon  our  streets.  It  is  a common 
vehicle. 

Canals  to  Supplement  Railways. 

We  have  covered  the  land  with  rail- 
roads, and  we  are  supplementing  them 
with  canals,  to  be  used  not  as  the  rivals 
of  railroads,  but  to  strengthen  them  and 
build  up  their  business.  Many  of  you, 
no  doubt,  have  looked  through  the  great 
telescopes  at  our  universities,  and  seen 
what  astronomers  tell  us  are  canals  upon 
Mars.  Mars  is  probably  older  than  the 
earth,  and  they  have  their  canals  com- 
pleted. (Laughter.)  We  are  going  back 
once  more  to  canals.  The  canal  at  Suez 
to-day  is  a revival  of  one  built  many 
ages  ago,  which  had  been  filled  up  with 
sand.  Renewed  in  our  day  it  has  become 
a highway  for  the  nations,  revolutioniz- 
ing the  whole  East  and  bringing  it  to 
the  doors  of  Europe. 

I suppose  your  idea  in  inviting  some  of 
us  gentlemen  here  to-night  was  very 
similar  to  that  which  our  wives  recognize 
as  one  of  the  principles  of  good  policy, 
and  that  is  when  they  introduce  a bill 
from  their  committee  on  appropriations, 
they  call  it  up  immediately  after  dinner, 
in  order  to  secure  its  passage.  I know 
that  my  wife  selects  that  occasion  as  the 
most  fitting  one,  and  you  gentlemen  have 
shown  your  wisdom  by  inviting  a num- 
ber of  us  here  to  listen  to  the  eloquent 
addresses  we  have  heard  to-night,  and 


31 


with  all  the  good,  sound  logic,  history, 
with  and  humor,  preparing  us  for  voting 
to  grant  your  appropriation. 

As  I told  you,  my  state  has  no  inter- 
est in  a river  and  harbor  bill,  and  yet  I 
never  voted  against  one,  because  I recog- 
nize the  fact  that  these  harbors,  rivers, 
canals,  light  houses  and  various  other 
improvements  upon  our  coasts  are  simply 
the  means  of  conveying  our  excess  pro- 
ducts out  of  the  country.  They  are  the 
outposts  of  that  great  center,  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  which  is  in  the  future  to 
dominate  this  country.  I speak  not  in  a 
political  but  a commercial  sense.  There 
is  the  center;  and  when  Thomas  H.  Ben- 
ton, in  the  Senate,  turned  his  face  to  the 
West  and  pointed,  saying,  “There  is  the 
East;  there  lies  India,”  he  spoke  in  pro- 
phetic tones.  Upon  the  pedestal  of  his 
statue,  which  stands  near  the  grounds  of 
the  great  Exposition,  which  you  will  all 
visit  in  the  West  this  year,  is  inscribed 
that  immortal  sentence. 

But  gentlemen,  I will  not  detain  you 
longer  at  this  late  hour.  Some  of  these 
other  men  will  tell  you  how  they  will 
vote.  I tell  you  how  I feel,  and  you  will 
have  to  infer  how  I will  vote.  ( Ap- 
plause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Representa- 
tive John  Lamb,  of  the  Third  Congress- 
ional District  of  Virginia,  said: 

Gentlemen:  We  are  all  very  much  ob- 
liged to  Mr.  Lacey,  not  only  as  a descen- 
dant from  a Delaware  family,  but  as  a 
Representative  in  Congress,  for  what  he 
has  said  in  encouragement  of  our  enter- 
prise. 

There  are  other  gentlemen  here  from 
whom  we  would  be  very  glad  to  hear,  and 
among  them  is  Mr.  Lamb,  of  Virginia. 
(Prolonged  applause.) 

REMARKS  OF  REPRESENTATIVE 
LAMB,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I am 
grateful  for  the  kind  invitation  that 
makes  me  one  of  your  number  upon  an 


occasion  so  interesting  and  so  inspiring. 
I represent  a district  in  the  Common- 
wealth of  Virginia,  not  dissimilar  to  the 
one  represented  by  my  friend  and  col- 
league from  this  state;  and  there  is  a 
striking  resemblance  between  the  capital 
of  the  State  of  Virginia  and  your  own 
Wilmington.  They  have  about  the  same 
population — I think  about  10,000  differ- 
ence. Wilmington  is  a manufacturing 
center,  and  so  is  Richmond.  It  may  be 
interesting  to  the  people  of  Wilmington 
to  know  that  the  city  of  Richmond  has, 
in  the  last  thirty  years,  increased  in 
population  from  36,000  to  nearly  90,000 
inhabitants — (Applause);  that  one  man- 
ufacturing establishment  there  turns  out 
an  engine  every  day  of  the  year;  that 
we  have  a shipyard,  as  you  have,  and 
that,  with  the  city  of  Manchester,  we 
have  sixty-three  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments, great  and  small.  If  it  were 
not  for  the  lateness  of  the  hour  I could 
very  well  show  you  that  the  city  of 
Richmond  itself  will  be  interested  and 
most  likely  greatly  benefited  by  your 
ship  canal.  (Applause.) 

I bring  you  to-night  the  greeting  of 
the  people  of  the  old  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia.  (Applause.)  They  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  you  in  the 
days  of  76.  As  I remember  now,  this 
proud  little  Commonwealth,  numbering 
then  only  36,000  people,  furnished  even 
more  than  her  full  quota  to  the  Revolu- 
tionary army.  As  I look  into  your  faces 
here,  it  seems  to  me  that  I am  before  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Richmond  city. 
(Applause.)  We  are  homogeneous,  the 
same  ties  bind  your  people  to  ours;  you 
are  in  striking  sympathy  and  accord  with 
the  Virginia  heart  and  the  Virginia  in- 
telligence. I might  go  back  and  show 
you  how  our  respective  commonwealths 
are  united  by  the  bonds  of  sympathy  and 
affinity,  but  the  hour  is  too  late  to  press 
that  point.  However,  in  passing,  let  me 
refer  to  four  of  the  characters  of  our  re- 
spective commonwealths.  If  the  Virginia 


32 


of  to-day  feels,  as  she  does,  a pride  in 
the  same  son  (John  W.  Daniel)  from 
Lynchburg,  whom  she  has  sent  to  the 
Senate  time  and  again,  she  likewise  re- 
veres the  memory  of  your  own  chivalric 
Bayard.  (Applause.)  And  if  Virginia 
remembers  with  reverence  and  cherishes 
the  name  of  John  Marshall,  whom  she 
gave  to  this  country,  she  likewise  has  a 
tender  regard  for  your  own  Gray.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

My  good  friend  and  colleague  from 
Iowa,  (Mr.  Lacey)  who  has  made  you  a 
most  interesting  speech,  has  boasted  of 
the  soil  of  his  state,  which  he  says  is  so 
rich  that  when  scattered  around,  a beau- 
tiiul  l\ew  England  girl  will  not  walk 
over  it,  for  fear  it  will  make  her  feet 
grow.  It  may  be  interesting  to  you  who 
come  from  the  sandy  soil  of  your  Sussex 
county,  where  my  friend’s  ancestors  first 
saw  the  light  of  day, — to  know  that  this 
wonderful  science  that  lias  been  making 
such  amazing  progress  in  our  country, 
has  now  found  an  ingredient  that  will 
make  the  sandiest  soil  of  Sussex  county 
equal  to  that  of  Iowa.  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  Why,  gentlemen,  it  has  just 
been  developed  during  the  last  few  days, 
before  the  hearings  of  the  Agricultural 
Committee,  of  which  I am  a humble 
member.  Only  yesterday  it  was  demon- 
strated before  this  committee  by  the  sci- 
entists of  the  Agricultural  Department, 
that  what  these  worn-out  lands  along  this 
eastern  coast  need  is  only  nitrogen.  They 
have  found  an  ingredient  of  which  a 
small  quantity  put  into  a vessel  and  left 
to  stand  for  a few  hours,  will,  when 
sprinkled  over  the  seeds  of  plants,  inocu- 
late them  so  that  when  you  sow  them 
in  the  soil  the  plants  will  draw  the  nitro- 
gen from  the  atmosphere.  When  that  is 
done  all  this  Atlantic  coast  territory  will 
equal  in  fertility  the  rich  lands  of  my 
friend  from  Iowa.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) Will  it  not  then  be  the  grand- 
est and  best  soil  in  God’s  earth?  And, 
besides,  we  have  all  these  advantages  of 


Avater  transportation.  There  is  necessity 
for  a canal  in  this  state. 

But  I suppose  I was  invited  here  to 
give  you  an  opportunity  to  find  out  how 
we  Virginians  are  going  to  vote  on  this 
canal.  I thought  the  distinguished  mem- 
ber from  the  First  District  of  Virginia 
would  make  this  speech,  and  sent  him 
word  to  do  it.  He  and  his  people  are 
more  interested  than  are  the  people  of 
the  Third  District,  and  I hope  he  will 
tell  you  how  the  people  of  the  rich 
county  of  Accomac,  on  the  eastern  shore, 
regard  the  project.  I will  illustrate  my 
own  position,  and  be  just  as  frank  as  you 
would  have  me,  by  telling  an  incident 
that  occurred  in  the  upper  valley  of  Vir- 
ginia a long  time  ago,  during  that  little 
“unpleasantness”  in  which  my  friend 
from  Iowa  was  on  one  side  and  I on  the 
other. 

When  that  magnificent  body  of  cavalry 
commanded  by  Phil.  Sheridan  was 
spreading  desolation  through  the  garden 
spot  of  Virginia,  the  valley  militia,  those 
who  descended  from  that  old  Irish -Ger- 
man stock,  who  despised  the  so  called 
virtues  of  New  England  and  the  vices, 
if  you  choose,  of  the  Cavaliers,  were 
marshalling  for  the  defense  of  their 
homes  and  firesides,  an  old  lady  with  a 
broom  came  out  and  stood  on  the  left  of 
the  ranks  being  mustered  in.  The  officer 
said,  “Old  lady,  what  are  you  doing 
here?  You  can’t  do  anything  with  that 
broom.”  But  she  replied,  “You  don’t 
know  what  an  old  lady  with  a broom 
can  do.”  When  he  remonstrated  again, 
she  said,  “I’ll  tell  you  what  I’m  here  for. 
I’m  here  to  show  on  which  side  I am.” 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman  and  friends,  if  I 
had  come  here  to-night  with  any  other 
opinion,  after  hearing  all  these  argu 
ments  and  this  eloquence  to-night,  I 
should  have  been  won  over,  and  would  be 
compelled  to  say,  “You  know  which  side 
1 am  on.” 


33 


Destiny  of  America. 

We  have  heard  a great  deal  here  to- 
night that  is  inspiring  and  uplifting,  out- 
side of  the  immediate  question  of  the  ca- 
nal. A question  that  has  been  on  my 
mind  while  listening  to  all  these  speeches 
is,  What  will  be  the  destiny  of  America? 
We  have  heard  of  our  magnificence,  our 
wonderful  achievements  and  progress, 
that  has  not  been  equalled  in  the  world’s 
history.  My  friends,  there  is  always 
danger  in  overconfidence  such  as  this 
might  induce,  and  the  philosophical  point 
that  I raise  to-night  is — and  it  is  my 
parting  injunction  to  you — that  all  our 
mighty  armies,  tremendous  as  they  are, 
if  marshalled  in  its  defense,  cannot  save 
this  country;  that  a mighty  navy — and 
I favor  everything  necessary  to  make 
ours  equal  to  the  French,  or  even  the 
English  navy — all  this  cannot  save  our 
country.  The  history  of  Rome  will  tes- 
tify to  this.  The  proud  nations  that  re- 
lied upon  their  navies  in  those  olden 
times  prove  it.  What  will  do  it  then? 
I will  tell  you.  The  spirit  that  presided 
at  the  natal  hour  of  this  proud  city,  the 
spirit  of  William  Penn,  the  spirit  of  Wil- 
liam Shipley,  the  spirit  of  one  of  tne 
noblest  Presidents  this  country  has  ever 
had,  William  McKinley,  will  do  it.  (Ap- 
plause.) I would  say  to  these  young 
men,  into  whose  faces  I look  with  ad- 
miration to-night,  that  this  is  the  spirit 
which  you  must  cultivate  in  this  re- 
public of  ours  if  you  would  save  this 
land. 

When  my  friend,  Mr.  Smith,  closed  his 
eloquent  and  inimitable  speech  with  that 
ringing  apostrophe  to  the  Gloucester  and 
to  the  American  flag,  I could  but  remem- 
ber that  during  the  battle  that  ship  bore 
upon  her  deck  a man  from  my  own  dis- 
trict, living  within  four  miles  of  my  own 
home,  who  directed  the  guns  that  sunk 
the  two  torpedo  boats  in  the  battle  of 
Santiago  bay.  (Applause.) 

Another  thing  I want  to  say,  and  it 
may  be  a grain  of  comfort  to  some  of  the 


older  men  here  to-night.  Dr.  John 
Bransford  was  a surgeon  in  the  United 
States  navy  for  eighteen  years.  He  car- 
ries in  his  pocket  to-day  an  honorable 
discharge  from  the  Confederate  army  at 
Appomatox,  where  he  surrendered.  He 
came  to  Washington,  and  1 secured  for 
him  the  position  of  assistant  surgeon. 
He  happened  to  be  placed  on  the  Glouces- 
ter. He  aimed  the  guns  that  sunk  those 
two  torpedo  boats,  thus  adding  to  the 
glory  of  the  American  navy. 

My  friends, 

“Who  saves  his  country  save  all  things, 
And  all  things  saved  shall  bless  him. 
Who  lets  his  country  die  lets  all  things 
die, 

And  all  things,  dying,  curse  him.” 

(Prolonged  applause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Congressman 
Jones,  of  Virginia,  said: 

Gentlemen:  I intended  to  call  upon 
the  member  from  the  First  District  of 
Virginia,  my  old  friend,  Mr.  Jones.  If 
you  knew  him  as  well  as  I do,  you  would 
all  want  to  hear  him.  (Applause.) 

REMARKS  OF  REPRESENTATIVE 
JONES,  OF  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  The 
gentleman  who  came  to  Washington,  and 
who  so  courteously  invited  me  to  attend 
this  banquet,  at  the  same  time  informed 
me  very  courteously,  very  respectfully, 
but  very  positively,  that  I would  not  be 
permitted  to  say  anything  upon  this 
occasion.  And  so  I now  feel  very  much 
like  the  man  who  was  invited  to 
attend  the  funeral  of  his  mother- 
in-law.  The  funeral  director  insisted 
that  he  should  ride  in  the  carriage  with 
the  principal  mourner,  and  he  objected 
very  seriously  to  doing  so.  But  when 
the  director  pointed  out  that  it  was  the 
proper  thing  for  him  to  do,  and  that 
there  was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do,  ne 
said,  “Well,  if  I must,  I must;  but  I as- 
sure you  that  it  takes  away  half  of  the 
pleasure  of  the  occasion.”  (Laughter.) 


34 


Having  assented  to  the  principal  stipula- 
tion in  the  contract  which  was  made 
with  me  when  I came  here,  I do  not  feel 
that  it  would  be  honorable  upon  my  part 
if  I were  to  violate  it;  and  I am  sure 
that  those  of  you  who  have  remained 
here  so  long  this  evening,  listening  to 
such  excellent  expositions  of  the  subject 
which  we  have  assembled  here  to  dis- 
cuss, do  not  care  to  have  me  speak  any 
longer. 

Canal  an  Absolute  Necessity. 

I simply  want  to  say  that  I did  not 
come  here  for  the  purpose  of  being  con- 
verted to  an  advocacy  of  the  proposition 
which  has  been  so  forcefully  and  elo- 
quently discussed  here  this  evening.  For 
years  I have  been  convinced  that  the 
construction  of  a larger  canal  than  that 
which  now  connects  the  waters  of  the 
Chesapeake  bay  and  the  Delaware  river 
is  not  only  feasible  and  practicable,  but 
that  it  is  an  absolute  necessity  in  order 
to  develop  and  to  increase  the  already 
great  trade  and  commerce  of  the  Chesa- 
peake bay.  I have  been  delighted  this 
evening  in  listening  to  the  magnifiicent 
presentation  that  has  been  made  of  this 
important  question.  I am  a rather  strict 
constructionist,  so  far  as  the  Federal 
Constitution  is  concerned,  but  I have  no 
shadow  of  doubt,  gentlemen,  upon  my 
mind  about  the  feasibility  of  this  pro- 
position. I believe  it  to  be  entirely  with- 
in the  power  of  the  Federal  Government, 
under  our  constitution,  to  construct  this 
canal,  and  I think  it  is  the  imperative 
duty  of  the  United  States  Government 
to  undertake  this  great  project.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Why,  gentlemen,  it  has  been  stated 
here  this  evening  that  to  construct  this 
canal  would  cost  less  than  to  build  a 
first-class  man-of-war.  It  would  cost  less 
than  the  United  States  Government  has 
already  expended  and  is  prepared  to  ex- 
pend upon  a fair  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
th«  benefit  of  which  could  not  possibly 


be  anything  like  that  which  would  re- 
sult to  the  people  of  these  five  or  six 
states  from  the  purchase  and  enlarge- 
ment of  the  present  canal. 

I understand  that  at  least  three  routes 
have  been  surveyed  and  talked  about, 
but  so  far  as  I understand  this  question, 
and  speaking,  as  I do,  for  a large  num- 
ber of  those  who  live  upon  the  shores  of 
Chesapeake  bay  in  the  State  of  Virginia, 
that  this  particular  project  of  acquiring 
and  enlarging  the  present  canal,  is  the 
most  feasible  and  the  wisest  of  all  the 
plans  that  have  been  proposed.  (Ap- 
plause.) And  I believe  that  this  ought 
not  to  be  done  by  the  State  of  Delaware, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  state 
is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  neither  state 
taxes  nor  a public  debt.  I believe  that 
the  people  of  Virginia  are  even  more 
largely  interested  in  the  construction  of 
this  canal  than  are  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Delaware.  Speaking  entirely 
from  a commercial,  and  not  from  a mili- 
tary standpoint,  I believe  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  such  great  national  importance 
as  to  require  the  assistance  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government;  and  for  one  I want  to 
say  that  so  long  as  I have  the  honor  of 
representing  any  portion  of  the  people 
of  Virginia  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  I 
shall  always  be  ready  to  do  everything 
in  my  power  to  bring  about  the  purchase 
and  construction  of  a ship  canal  along 
the  route  of  the  present  Chesapeake  and 
Delaware  canal.  (Applause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Mr.  Cad- 
wallader,  of  Philadelphia,  said: 

Gentlemen:  I am  going  to  ask  for  a 
few  words  from  a gentleman  from  our 
neighboring  city  of  Philadelphia,  who 
bears  a historic  name  that  is  associated 
with  all  the  great  enterprises  of  our  sec- 
tion that  have  distinguished  the  last 
century,  and  especially  with  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Delaware  canal — the  Honor- 
able John  Cadwallader,  of  Philadelphia. 
(Applause.) 


35 


REMARKS  OF  JOHN  CADWALLADER, 
ESQ.,  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I need 
hardly  to  tell  you  that  I came  here  to- 
night to  listen,  and  not  to  speak.  At 
this  late  hour  I recall  an  occasion  which 
I think  your  chairman  will  remember, 
when  the  late  minister  for  China,  Mr. 
Wu,  was  at  a banquet  held  to  honor  John 
Marshall’s  memory.  Mr.  Wu  was  called 
upon  to  speak  a few  words.  He  rose  and 
said  that  the  occasion  recalled  two  of  the 
precepts  of  Confucius.  Confucius  directed 
that  no  one  should  speak  during  eating, 
and  that  it  was  most  improvident  to  talk 
before  going  to  bed.  So  I presume  you 
do  not  want  to  hear  from  me.  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

I have  one  fact  to  state  which  may 
be  of  interest  to  tne  representatives  of 
our  Government  at  Washington,  and  to 
others  not  familiar  with  affairs  connected 
with  this  canal.  I believe  I am  the  only 
person  here  who  happens  to  be  related 
to  it  or  directly  concerned  in  it.  The 
canal  is  of  very  great  interest  to  me,  and 
I have  considerable  personal  knowledge 
of  it,  being  a director  in  the  Canal  Com- 
pany, and  president  of  the  only  naviga- 
tion line  carrying  passengers  through  it. 

The  condition  of  the  canal  has  resulted 
in  one  evil  already.  For  many  years  one 
of  those  transportation  lines  which  runs 
from  New  York  to  Baltimore  used  this 
canal.  Owing  to  its  inadequacy  and  to 
the  delay,  which  made  it  impossible  to 
meet  the  demands  of  that  line,  they  had 
to  abandon  the  canal  system  and  adopt 
ocean  steamers.  So  the  canal — that 
short  route — has  been  abandoned,  and 
their  business  is  now  conducted  by  way 
of  the  route  around  the  cape. 

United  States  Now  Part  Owner. 

Another  fact  which  I think  is  import- 
ant is  this.  One  gentleman  was  speaking 
of  his  views  on  the  constitutional  powers 
of  our  Government.  Like  him,  I am  a 
strict  constructionist.  It  may  relieve 


the  minds  of  many  gentlemen  to  know 
that  the  work  of  constructing  this  canal 
was  substantially  aided  by  the  Govern- 
ment. The  United  States  Government 
holds  $750,000  worth  of  the  stock  of  the 
Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal  Com- 
pany. That  is  so  little  known  that  when, 
some  years  ago,  it  became  important  to 
obtain  the  power  to  vote  that  stock  and 
we  went  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  obtain  the  desired  permission,  there 
was  no  record  of  it  and  none  of  the  offi- 
cials knew  anything  about  it. 

I think  it  is  a matter  of  some  interest, 
as  well,  that  nearly  one  hundred  years 
ago  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
considered  this  as  a national  matter,  a 
matter  for  which  the  public  moneys  were 
properly  appropriated  for  the  general 
good.  But  unfortunately  it  was  appro- 
priated to  a private  corporation.  It 
should  have  been  for  the  use  of  the  whole 
people,  as  I hope  it  will  now  soon  be,  by 
its  conversion  into  a public  canal. 

I do  believe  that  it  will  be  done,  and 
that  it  is  a proper  expenditure  of  money. 
It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  our  Gov- 
ernment, in  its  most  conservative  period, 
aided  this  project.  That  was  an  enor- 
mous sum  of  money  for  them  to  spend  at 
that  time. 

The  reports  of  the  various  commission- 
ers and  engineers  of  the  Government  con- 
cur in  the  view  that  the  present  route  of 
the  canal  is  the  best,  although  other 
routes  have  been  surveyed.  The  work 
can  be  carried  out  now  with  a compara- 
tively small  expenditure;  and  I trust 
that  those  gentlemen  who  have  come 
here  and  heard  of  its  great  utility,  and 
who  have  learned  the  fact  not  known  be- 
fore— that  the  Government  has  already 
aided  this  canal,  and  is  now  a stockholder 
in  it— -will  see  that  there  is  reason  to 
hope  mat  the  Government  will  aid  us  in 
carrying  out  the  present  project.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Judge  Gray,  introducing  Representa- 
tive Gardner,  of  New  Jersey,  said: 


36 


Gentlemen:  It  would  not  do  to  ad- 
journ this  convocation  without  hearing 
from  the  state  which  you  could  see  right 
across  the  river  if  you  walked  to  the  rear 
of  this  building — our  sister  state  of  New 
Jersey.  There  she  is,  right  in  full  view 
of  the  citizens  of  Wilmington  through 
every  hour  of  the  day,  and  we  certainly 
must  hear  from  her.  Whether  Mr.  Gard- 
ner wants  to  say  anything  or  not,  we 
are  going  to  ask  him.  (Prolonged  ap- 
plause.) 

REMARKS  OF  REPRESENTATIVE 
GARDNER,  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 

Mr.  Chairman:  I came  here  under  the 
promise  that  I should  be  mentioned  only 
in  the  list  of  those  who  also  ate.  I have 
been  very  much  delighted  to-night  by 
many  things.  I presume  that  all  the 
people  of  this  state  are  delighted,  as  I 
always  am,  when  the  presiding  officer  of 
the  evening  (Judge  Gray)  talks.  I am 
also  delighted  to  listen  to  the  distin- 
guished gentleman,  ex-Postmaster  Gen- 
eral Smith,  of  Philadelphia.  (Applause.) 
If  he  talks  to  the  waters  the  waves  grow 
still.  And  I think  when  the  gentleman 
from  Iowa  (Mr.  Lacey)  talked  about 
Mars  the  heavens  drew  near,  and  it 
would  not  have  required  a telescope  to 
see  them  if  somebody  had  had  sufficient 
presence  of  mind  to  run  out  and  look. 
(Laughter.) 

I was  also  deeply  interested  in  a part 
of  the  discourse  of  the  eminent  ex- Sena- 
tor of  the  State  of  Delaware  (Mr.  Hig- 
gins) in  which  he  made  it  evident  that 
many  great  things  have  come  about 
through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
waterway;  that  among  other  things  the 
Constitution  of  this  great  republic  grew 
out  of  this  canal.  (Laughter.)  In  view 
of  the  great  importance  of  water,  it 
would  seem  that  the  momentous  question 
that  for  years  has  agitated  great  socie- 
ties and  institutions  of  learning  as  to 
what  would  be  our  most  appropriate  na- 
tional flower,  might  be  settled  by  say- 


ing that  henceforth  it  shall  be  the  water- 
lily.  Some  other  people  have  been  grow- 
ing nervous  over  the  matter  of  what 
should  be  our  most  appropriate  national 
hymn,  and  it  would  now  seem  that  it 
might  properly  be  a frog  concert  in  the 
twilight.  (Laughter.) 

New  Jersey  for  the  Canal. 

Now,  although  you  didn’t  call  on  the 
right  person,  I thought  you  would  want 
to  hear  something  from  New  Jersey  in 
connection  with  this  canal,  because  if  I 
remember  history  rightly,  no  good  thing 
has  ever  transpired  in  this  country,  no 
worthy  object  has  ever  been  carried  to 
completion,  unless  New  Jersey  was  there 
and  had  a shoulder  at  the  weel.  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

I have  no  doubt  that  all  New  Jersey 
will  be  for  this  waterway,  or  any  other 
great  improvement.  Certainly  Delaware, 
Maryland  and  Virginia  are  solidly  for  it, 
but  don’t  you  rely  upon  Lacey;  and  I 
fear  that  Lacey  voices  much  of  the  sen- 
timent of  the  West.  To-night,  coming 
up  on  the  train,  something  had  to  be 
talked  about  to  pass  away  the  time.  I 
said : 

“Lacey,  suppose  that  by  the  improve- 
ment of  our  waterways,  or  some  other 
method,  the  cost  of  transportation  could 
be  reduced  to  a minimum;  what  would 
be  the  immediate  result  on  the  commerce 
of  this  country?” 

He  replied,  “If  transportation  were 
cheap  enough,  you  fellows  would  have 
the  whole  state  of  Iowa  down  here  and 
be  selling  it  for  dung.”  (Laughter.) 

I don’t  know  much  about  armies  and 
navies  and  future  wars  and  the  import- 
ance of  an  inland  base  of  operations,  but 
I do  know  that  commerce,  the  general 
affairs  of  life,  demand  every  day  more 
and  more  ready,  convenient  and  cheap 
methods  of  transportation.  I do  know, 
or  have  long  thought  that  I knew,  (for 
you  know  we  all  have  the  weakness  of 
thinking  that  we  thunk,)  (Laughter) 


37 


that  there  was  something  wrong  about 
the  situation  around  here — something 
wrong  when  a ship  had  to  start  from 
Philadelphia  and  go  away  down  here  (in- 
dicating on  the  map)  to  get  out  of  the 
capes,  and  then  go  away  up  to  Fire  Is- 
land to  get  her  bearings,  and  then  pro- 
ceed across  the  Atlantic  ocean.  I could 
not  see  why  the  commercial  interests  of 
this  country  did  not  take  hold  of  this 
problem  and  solve  it  and,  as  there  could 
be  but  one  solution,  carry  the  matter  to 
execution. 

In  looking  over  the  map  I have  often 
had  occasion  to  felicitate  Delaware,  and 
to  think  that  she  had  a happy  lot  in  that 
her  shores  were  kissed  by  the  waves  that 
had  lately  lapped  the  feet  of  the  New 
Jersey  sand  dunes.  (Laughter.) 

Just  why  you  should  go  away  out  yon- 
der, outside,  down  a dangerous  coast  and 
around  a dangerous  cape,  to  get  into  the 
other  bay,  is  doubtless  a problem  that  no 
engineer  could  give  an  intelligent  answer 
to.  The  only  explanation  I know  is  this : 
Things  have  to  develop,  to  grow;  ideas 
come  to  society  only  at  intervals.  I seem 
to  have  been  one  among  the  few  to  whom 
this  idea  occurred  at  any  reasonable 
time.  I have  no  doubt  that  we  of  the 
vanguard  will  be  duly  thankful  that  it 
has  struck  the  people  of  Wilmington  at 
last.  (Laughter.) 

A comparatively  small  matter  is  this 
in  expenditure.  In  my  judgment  it  is  no 
particular  problem  in  engineering.  I 
don’t  know  much  about  engineering,  but 
I never  could  see  very  much  trouble  from 
an  engineering  standpoint  in  construct- 
ing a great  waterway.  You  know  there 
is  a story  told  in  a pathetic  strain  of 
some  old  lady  from  the  West,  perhaps 
from  Lacey’s  district,  (laughter) — who 
went  down  to  the  seashore  last  summer 
and  sat  down  upon  the  boardwalk,  (there 
fore  it  must  have  been  in  Atlantic  City) 
looked  in  silence  out  over  the  boundless 
sea,  and  by  and  by  she  said,  with  a deep 
sigh,  “Well,  thank  God  there  is  some- 


thing in  this  world  that  there  is  enough 
of!”  (Laughter.)  There  is  in  this  world 
at  the  present  time  enough  of  salt  water. 
I spent  my  early  life  in  playing  and 
boating  upon  the  tidewater  and  the  mud 
flats  of  New  Jersey,  and  I observed  that 
wherever  I dug  a hole  in  the  sand  below 
the  water  level  the  water  would  fill  it. 
So,  to  the  untutored  mind,  unskilled  in 
engineering,  the  whole  system  of  making 
a waterway  consists  in  water;  not  in 
some  great  scientific  matter  of  dredging; 
not  in  some  problem  difficult  to  under- 
stand. As  I have  said,  if  you  simply  dig 
the  dirt  out,  water  fills  up  the  place;  so 
making  a great  waterway  consists  in  the 
simple  process  of  digging  earth  out  where 
you  want  water.  (Laughter.)  That  may 
not  be  the  statement  of  the  whole  prob- 
lem, but  it  simplifies  it  very  much. 

Inland  Waterway  for  Safety. 

The  sea  is  dangerous;  it  has  always 
been  hazardous.  From  a money  stand- 
point it  becomes  more  and  more  so  every 
year,  because  the  ships  which  go  upon 
it  represent  each  year  greater  values, 
both  in  themselves  and  in  their  cargoes. 
I think  it  is  a known  fact,  any  way  it 
was  the  opinion  of  the  sailors  in  my 
early  life,  that  the  largest  vessels  were 
not  the  safest.  So  I repeat  that  just  why 
they  should  always  have  been  exposed 
to  the  hazards  of  the  sea  when  it  has  al- 
ways been  apparently  an  easy  matter  to 
convey  our  commerce  by  water,  prac- 
tically the  entire  length  of  the  Atlantic 
coast,  inland  and  safely — why  our  at- 
tention was  never  turned  in  that  par- 
ticular direction  I,  for  one,  have  not  been 
able  to  understand.  It  is  my  opinion 
that  statistics  will  show  that  the  value 
of  the  ships  and  cargoes  which  have  gone 
down  in  consequence  of  this  exposure — 
not  to  mention  the  value  of  those  thous- 
ands upon  thousands  of  lives  of  men 
whose  bones  lie  somewhere  undiscovered 
in  the  bottom  of  the  sea — has  been 
enough  to  pay  again  and  again  and  again, 
every  dollar  of  the  cost  of  a waterway 


38 


almost  the  entire  length  of  our  coast,  ab- 
solutely free  from  exposure  to  the  dan- 
gers of  the  gTeat  deep.  Not  only  will  it 
cost  nothing  in  the  long  run,  but  it  will 
absolutely  save  money  to  the  nation. 
Only  the  higher  mind,  with  a full  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  of  life,  could  fix  any 
estimate  upon  the  value  of  the  human 
lives  it  will  save.  (Applause.) 

Now,  you  gentlemen  believe  this  to  be 
a worthy  project,  don’t  you?  You  sin- 
cerely believe  it  to  be  of  value  to  the  na- 
tion, and  that  it  ought  to  be  carried 
through?  You  already  knew  something 
of  the  history  of  New  Jersey,  didn’t  you? 
Then  why  did  you  want  any  Jersey  man 
here,  unless  to  persuade  you  that  it  is  a 
worthy  object?  Knowing  the  story  of 
New  Jersey  from  tne  beginning,  did  any 
of  you  ever  do  her  the  injustice  to  doubt 
for  a single  moment  where  any  true  Jer- 
seyman  would  stand  on  any  meritorious 
project  like  this?  (Applause.)  If  there 
is  anything  further  than  that  behind 
your  interest  in  New  Jersey  just  now;  if 
there  is  anything  more  that  you  want, 
just  name  it,  and  if  it  is  anything  rea- 
sonable, New  Jersey  will  be  there  when 
the  clock  strikes.  (Applause.) 

I want  to  say  in  conclusion  that  no 
gentleman  who  has  spoken  here  to-night 
goes  before  me,  or  any  other  real  Jersey- 
man,  in  the  possession  of  those  grand 
sentiments  for  the  development  and 
glory  of  our  nation,  and  for  her  future 
greatness,  to  which  utterance  has  been 
given  here.  Speaking  for  New  Jersey,  I 
want  to  say  that  wherever  a great  act 
shall  occur  on  the  future  scenes  of  na- 
tional or  international  life;  wherever  the 
nation  needs  a strong  arm  and  a cour- 
ageous heart;  wherever  something  brave, 
or  great,  or  glorious  is  to  be  done;  wher- 
ever a grand  national  or  international 
sentiment  is  to  be  upheld;  wherever  the 
glory  of  that  flag  apostrophised  here  to- 
night shall  need  a defender  or  an  arm 
to  advance  it;  wherever  a grand  national 
exigency  may  require  grand  action  of 


grand  sons — there  you  will  find  the  Jer- 
sey blue  forever!  (Prolonged  applause.) 

Judge  Gray: 

Gentlemen:  We  cannot  have  too  much 
of  a good  thing,  and  I am  going  to  call 
upon  another  representative  of  New  Jer- 
sey, the  Hon.  Mr.  Loudenslager.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Upon  learning  that  Mr.  Loudenslager 
had  gone,  Judge  Gray  introduced  the 
Honorable  L.  Irving  Handy,  saying: 

Gentlemen:  I am  going  to  call  on  one 
of  our  own  citizens  to  make  the  last 
speech.  We  all  know  him,  and  are  al- 
ways glad  to  hear  Mr.  L.  Irving  Handy. 
(Prolonged  applause.) 

REMARKS  OF  HONORABLE  L.  IRV- 
ING HANDY,  OF  WILMINGTON. 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Members  of  the 
Board  of  Trade:  I understand  that  the 
committee  on  arrangements  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  realizing  how  delightful  this 
occasion  would  be  and  how  fascinating 
would  be  the  other  speeches,  arranged  for 
me  to  speak  last,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  sure  of  clearing  the  hall  in 
time  for  Peacock  to  use  it  in  the  morn- 
ing. (Laughter.) 

I wisn  to  say  to  the  guests  of  the 
evening,  that  your  presence  here  has 
contributed  largely  towards  making  tins 
a memorable  occasion.  To  me  it  has 
had  a kind  of  reminiscent  flavor.  As  I 
have  heard  these  former  Congressional 
colleagues  of  mine,  it  has  seemed  like  an 
old  time  field-day  in  the  House.  It  really 
seems  to  me  that  they  talk  better  than 
they  did  of  yore;  that  they  make  a great 
deal  better  speeches  than  they  used  to 
make.  So  much  so,  that  I have  been  re 
minded  of  the  story  of  a little  girl  who 
was  standing  one  evening  looking  at  her- 
self in  the  glass,  enjoying  her  beauty. 
Her  father  was  not  very  pretty.  You 
know  it  is  hard  for  men  to  be  pretty. 
The  little  girl  said: 

“Mamma,  did  God  make  me?” 


39 


“Yes,  my  daughter,”  her  mother  re- 
plied. 

‘'Well,  mamma,  did  God  make  papa, 
too  ?” 

“Yes,  my  dear,”  said  her  mother,  “God 
made  everybody.” 

“Well  mamma,  don’t  you  think  God 
has  been  doing  a good  deal  better  work 
lately?”  (Prolonged  laughter.) 

I think  that  my  friends,  Lacey,  Lamb, 
Gardner,  Jones  and  the  others,  have  been 
doing  better  work  lately  than  they  used 
to  uo.  (Renewed  laughter.) 

There  is  one  thing  brought  out  by  the 
gentleman  from  Iowa  (Mr.  Lacey)  which 
rather  alarms  me.  The  gentleman  from 
Iowa  told  about  the  effect  which  the 
Iowa  soil  has  on  the  feet  of  the  girls  of 
that  state,  and  the  gentleman  from  Vir- 
ginia told  us  that  they  have  found  a way, 
by  adding  nitrogen  to  our  soil,  to  make 
the  sandy  soil  of  Delaware  have  the 
same  effect.  Gentlemen,  we  don’t  want 
anything  like  that  done  to  the  feet  of 
our  girls.  (Laughter.) 

A voice:  All  the  angels  have  big  feet. 

Mr.  Handy:  Not  all.  I know  one  an- 
gel— God  bless  her — whose  feet  are  in 
perfect  proportion  to  the  rest  of  her 
charming  shape. 

I was  brought  here  to-night  to  give  the 
verdict.  I came  here  absolutely  impar- 
tial. I had  neither  expressed  nor  formed 
an  opinion,  and  so  I am  now  prepared 
to  give  an  impartial  verdict  in  favor  of 
the  plaintiff.  I am  convinced  by  the 
speeches  to-night  that  the  canal  is  a good 
thing,  that  ours  is  a great  country,  that 
every  individual  state  is  the  best  state  of 
them  all,  and  that  every  individual  state 
has  more  interest  in  the  fulfillment  of 
this  project  than  any  other.  (Laughter.) 

I was  very  much  surprised  that  ex- 
Senator  Higgins  did  not  speak  of  an- 
other advantage  to  be  gained  by  the  con- 
struction of  this  canal,  for  he  knows  the 
importance  of  what  I am  about  to  say. 
He  dilated  upon  its  importance  to  the 
commerce  of  the  eastern  shore  of  Vir- 


ginia, of  Philadelphia,  of  Jersey  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  world;  but  the  thing  in 
which  Delaware  is  most  interested  is  in 
fishing  in  the  waters  of  the  canal. 
(Laughter.)  It  is  rumored  that  a bass 
was  once  caught  in  that  vicinity,  and 
Anthony  Higgins,  famous  as  a bass  fish- 
erman, has  spent  days  and  months  fish- 
ing in  the  lonely  waters  of  the  canal;  he 
has  been,  ever  since,  thrashing  the  banks 
in  the  hopes  of  finding  its  mate.  (Laugh- 
ter.) When  the  canal  is  done,  think  of 
the  opportunity  we  Delewareans  will 
have  of  fishing  down  there.  That  is  the 
only  argument  which  remains  to  be  ad- 
vanced— the  importance  of  the  fishing 
rights.  Man  does  not  get  all  there  is  out 
of  life  until  he  spends  a day  wetting  a 
line  in  this  canal.  For  this  reason  I,  too, 
am  in  favor  of  digging  the  canal,  digging 
it  broad  and  deep,  so  deep  that  there 
will  be  no  locks.  I never  expect  to  own 
a boat,  but  a rod  and  line  are  within  the 
limits  of  my  fortune.  I,  too,  may  in  that 
way  enjoy  the  canal.  (Laughter.) 

Speaking  seriously,  if  this  project  con- 
tributed to  the  interests  of  Delaware  and 
of  Delaware  alone,  it  would  not  be  ask- 
ing too  much  of  the  Federal  treasury  to 
ask  it  to  undertake  the  enlargement  of 
this  canal.  Small  as  we  are  in  territory 
and  meagre  as  our  numbers  may  be  when 
compared  with  larger  states,  it  is  not 
asking  any  more  than  our  due  to  demand 
a few  millions  now  and  then  from  the 
Federal  treasury.  Into  that  treasury 
Delawareans  have  paid  many  millions  of 
dollars  and  we  have  received  but  little 
in  appropriations  for  public  improve- 
ments. By  our  system  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion it  is  a safe  estimate  that  the  people 
of  Delaware  pay  into  the  Federal  treas- 
ury at  least  a million  and  a half  of  dol- 
lars every  year.  This  thing  of  which  we 
speak  to-night  is  not  for  ourselves 
alone,  but  even  if  it  were  we  need  not  be 
shy  or  over-modest  in  asking  for  it.  In 
asking  for  an  improvement  that  will  cost 


eight  or  nine  millions  of  dollars  we  are 
only  asking  for  our  fair  share. 

I want  personally  to  return  my  thanks 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  for  the  pleasure  of 
being  here  to-night.  It  has  been  a de- 
lightful occasion.  It  reflects  credit  on 
tne  Board.  And  I cannot  fail,  gentle- 
men, to  remark  the  dignity,  grace  and 
thoughtful  kindliness  with  which  the 
toastmaster  of  the  banquet  has  presided. 
Nothing  in  the  world  but  his  own  mod 
est  presence  prevents  my  saying  to  you 
further  that  he  is  qualified  to  preside 
not  only  at  a banquet,  but  over  the  des- 
tinies of  this  great  republic.  (Applause.) 

Others  talk  about  the  advantages  of 
digging  a canal  through  Delaware.  Let 
me  say  to  you,  if  you  all  want  to  be 
happy,  you  can,  by  taking  our  toastmas- 
ter for  President,  get  something  from 
happy  little  Delaware  that  will  make 
you  happier  than  any  canal  can  make 
you.”  (Prolonged  applause.) 

Conclusion. 

Judge  Gray  then  called  on  Bishop 
Coleman  to  dismiss  the  assemblage  with 
the  benediction,  which  he  did,  saying: 

“To  God’s  gracious  mercy  and  protec- 
tion we  commit  you.  The  Lord  bless  you 
and  keep  you;  the  Lord  make  His  face 
to  shine  upon  you  and  be  gracious  unto 
you;  the  Lord  lift  up  His  countenance 
upon  you  and  give  you  peace,  both  now 
and  ever  more.  Amen.” 

Committees  in  Charge  of  the  Banquet. 

William  Lawton,  President. 

Daniel  W.  Taylor,  Secretary. 

Thomas  H.  Savery,  Chairman  General 
Committee. 

Finance  Committee — John  S.  Rossell, 
Chairman;  T.  Coleman  DuPont,  John  B. 
Martin,  Holstein  Harvey,  J.  P.  Winches- 
ter, Henry  B.  Thompson. 

Invitation  and  Reception  Committee — 
Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Chairman;  Josiah 
Marvel,  John  N.  Carswell,  W.  W.  Lob- 
dell,  John  S.  Rossell,  Hon.  George  Gray, 
Gen.  James  H.  Wilson,  J.  P.  Winchester, 


T.  Allen  Hilles,  Alfred  D.  Warner,  Wil- 
liam Lawton. 

Entertainment  Committee — George  B. 
Moore,  Chairman;  George  W.  Sparks,  H. 
H.  Ward,  Alfred  O.  Crozier,  Howard  DeH. 
Ross,  John  B.  Martin,  John  M.  Rogers, 
R.  J.  Maclean,  Captain  Horace  Wilson, 
C.  A.  Rudolph,  John  Bancroft,  Howard 
T.  Wallace,  L.  P.  Bush,  J.  Parke  Postles, 
William  Lawton,  C.  E.  Kingston. 

Names  of  Persons  Present  at  the  Banquet 

Special  guests  and  press  representa- 
tives: General  James  H.  Wilson,  Hon.  J. 
Frank  Allee,  Hon.  R.  Moon,  Hon.  L.  Heis- 
ler  Ball,  Hon.  John  F.  Dry  den,  Hon.  S.  R. 
Dresser,  Major  R.  S.  Hoxie,  Hon.  William 
Hughes,  Hon.  Boies  Penrose,  Hon.  James 
T.  Lloyd,  Hon.  John  Lamb,  Hon.  H.  Burd 
Cassel,  Hon.  Henry  D.  Clayton,  Hon.  J. 
W.  Denney,  Hon.  John  J.  Gardner,  Hon. 
Henry  R.  Gibson,  Hon.  William  H.  Jack- 
son,  Hon.  Sydney  Mudd,  Hon.  George  A. 
Pearre,  Hon.  Frank  C.  Wachter,  Hon. 
Henry  A.  Houston,  Hon.  William  A. 
Jones,  Hon.  Henry  C.  Loudenslager,  Hon. 
Allan  Benny,  Hon.  Thaddeus  M.  Mahon, 
Hon.  Daniel  Lafean,  Hon.  John  L.  Lacey, 
Hon.  William  M.  Lanning,  Hon.  William 
H.  Wiley,  Hon.  Edward  Morrell,  Hon. 
Henry  L.  Maynard,  Hon.  John  Hunn, 
Hon.  Caleb  R.  Layton,  Hon.  Charles  B. 
Maull,  Thomas  B.  Holmes,  Francis  B. 
Lee,  Hon.  W.  C.  Sproul,  Major  C.  B. 
Baker,  Reuben  Foster,  Blanchard  Ran- 
dall, L.  L.  Jackson,  Hon.  John  H.  Small, 
Hon.  Charles  Emory  Smith,  Hon.  Ebe  W. 
Tunnell,  Hon.  John  B.  Causey,  John  B. 
Daish,  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Butler,  A.  O.  H. 
Grier,  Every  Evening;  Morris  J.  Roberts, 
Sun;  John  I.  Beehan,  Jeffersonian;  G.  B. 
Hynson  and  Charles  E.  Gray,  Evening 
Journal;  H.  R.  Smith,  Freie  Presse;  A. 
R.  Saylor,  Labor  Herald;  Joseph  H.  Mar- 
tin, Sunday  Star;  Frank  P.  Gorman, 
Philadelphia  Record;  Louis  Sebar,  Phila- 
delphia North  American;  Thomas  T. 
Allen,  Philadelphia  Press;  Mr.  Daven- 
port, Philadelphia  Ledger;  William  B. 


41 


Bray,  Philadelphia  Inquirer;  H.  T.  Price, 
The  Morning  News;  Dr.  A.  D.  Jacobson, 
W.  Scott  Vernon,  Hon.  L.  Irving  Handy, 
Jerome  B.  Bell,  George  W.  Roberts,  Hon. 
Charles  D.  Bird,  Hon.  Francis  J.  McNul- 
ty; A.  J.  Koocli,  S.  M.  Joseph,  Mahlon 
Betts,  J.  F.  McCoy,  William  E.  Rothwell, 
Richard  Reese,  Preston  Lea,  Hon.  John 
Cadwallader. 

Other  persons  present  were: 

W.  S.  Allmond,  Edward  Andrews,  Max 
Abramson. 

Dr.  H.  R.  Burton,  George  R.  Bower, 
James  H.  Beggs,  Jr.,  Thomas  S.  Bellah, 
W.  H.  Beacom,  S.  H.  Baynard,  Prof.  A. 
H.  Berlin,  Samuel  C.  Biddle,  E.  H.  Bren- 
nan, N.  W.  Bard,  John  Biggs,  Edward 
T.  Betts,  L.  A.  Bertolette,  J.  Frank  Ball, 
Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Rev.  Alexander  T. 
Bowser,  James  M.  Bryan,  L.  J.  Broman, 
J.  Warren  Bullen,  Philip  Burnet,  Jr., 
Lewis  P.  Bush,  Isaac  S.  Bullock,  Fred  E. 
Bach,  John  Bancroft,  William  Beaden- 
kopf. 

R.  B.  Chillas,  Truman  W.  Campbell, 
T.  B.  Cartmell,  Philemma  Chandler,  Ed- 
win R.  Cochran,  Jr.,  George  S.  Capelle, 
P.  J.  Cahill,  Dr.  Smith  Cooper,  Joshua 
Conner,  W.  B.  Clerk,  A.  R.  Chandler,  Al- 
fred O.  Crozier,  J.  N.  Carswell,  Joshua 
Clayton,  Edward  T.  Canby. 

T.  Coleman  DuPont,  onarles  P.  Dough - 
ten,  Charles  E.  Dubell,  Millard  F.  Davis, 
Samuel  M.  Dillon,  C.  W.  Diggins,  S.  H. 
Durstein,  John  H.  Danby,  John  M.  Door- 
don,  Thomas  Donaldson. 

O.  W.  Everett,  George  A.  Elliott,  Harry 
Emmons,  Howell  S.  England,  J.  A.  Elle- 
good. 

George  M.  Fisher,  W.  B.  Fitts,  J.  E. 
Fuller,  W.  E.  Frank,  Dr.  Lewis  W.  Flinn, 
Herbert  N.  Fell,  A.  E.  Frantz,  P.  J.  Ford, 
James  I.  Ford,  W.  J.  Faulkner,  Dr.  Ir- 
vine M.  Flinn. 

Dr.  Charles  Green,  John  G.  Gray,  Clif- 
ford Greenman,  John  Govatos,  J.  N. 
Gawthrop,  Charles  S.  Gawthrop,  Samuel 
Greenbaum,  Spotswood  Garland,  Alfred 
Gawthrop,  H.  S.  Goldey,  Andrew  C.  Gray. 


John  G.  Hartmann,  Joseph  Hess,  Geo. 

B.  Hanford,  Edgar  M.  Hoopes,  William 
H.  Heald,  Vincent  B.  Hazard,  John  A. 
Cranston,  W.  C.  Hammond,  F.  D.  Hop- 
kins, William  D.  Haddock,  T.  Allen 
Hilles,  T.  Chalkley  Hatton,  Anthony  Hig- 
gins, William  S.  Hilles,  Holstein  Harvey, 
George  H.  Hollis,  Dr.  W.  H.  Hancker,  S. 
E.  Harpel,  Joseph  F.  Hamilton. 

Daniel  Jones,  Jr.,  Gilbert  S.  Jones,  J. 
Parker  Jefferis,  William  H.  Jones,  Chas. 

R.  Jones,  A.  L.  Johnson,  Thomas  W. 
Johnson,  Jr.,  C.  R.  Jefferis,  Joseph  C. 
Jolls,  W.  D.  Jackson,  Dr.  Robert  H.  Jones, 
Robert  O.  Janvier. 

H.  G.  Knowles,  Daniel  M.  Knox,  wil- 
liam H.  Kirn,  Leonard  Kittinger,  W.  M. 
Kennard,  Charles  E.  Kingston,  William 
H.  Kenworthy,  William  F.  Kurtz,  Charles 

C.  Kurtz. 

Thomas  H.  Latimer,  John  W.  Lawson, 
Jr.,  John  R.  Lambson,  Theodore  A.  Lei- 
sen,  Samuel  B.  Lees,  Dr.  J.  Paul  Lukens, 
Nathan  Levy,  William  Lawton,  William 
T.  Lynam,  D.  L.  Levy. 

John  M.  Mendinhall,  J.  H.  Mendinhall, 
George  B.  Moore,  James  Megary,  George 
C.  Morton,  Edmund  Mitchell,  Fred  C. 
Mammele,  E.  C.  Minor,  Josiah  Marvel, 
David  T.  Marvel,  Max  Matthes,  John  B. 
Martin,  J.  H.  Mehaffy,  Thomas  H.  Mel- 
vin, William  D.  Mullen,  R.  J.  MacLean, 

G.  A.  Messick,  Alfred  B.  Moore. 

David  McCoy,  James  Keough,  George 

H.  McCall,  Fred  C.  McCall. 

Benjamin  Nields,  Otho  Nowland,  John 
P.  Nields. 

James  B.  Oberly. 

Irvin  F.  Paschall,  W.  C.  Phillips,  Rob- 
ert Pennington,  G.  Parke  Postles,  J. 
Parke  Postles,  E.  L.  Peacock,  W.  A. 
Powell,  Victor  R.  Pyle,  Edward  W.  Pyle, 
Richard  T.  Pilling,  O.  C.  Purdy,  A.  D. 
Peoples. 

Robert  Reynolds,  John  S.  Rossell,  A. 

S.  Reed,  C.  A.  Rudolph,  John  N.  Rice, 
John  M.  Rogers,  Robert  H.  Richards,  L. 
M.  Rockefeller,  G.  W.  Remington,  David 


C.  Reid,  J.  W.  Reybold,  Howard  D.  Ross, 
Henry  P.  Rumford. 

George  I.  Speer,  J.  Ernest  Smith,  An- 
drew E.  Sanborn,  Robert  S.  Stuart, 
Frank  C.  Searle,  S.  C.  Singleton,  Jr., 
Willard  Saulsbury,  Clarence  Southerland, 
William  H.  Savery,  Henry  S.  Swayne, 
George  W.  Sparks,  Edwin  B.  Sadtler,  S. 
H.  Staats,  John  M.  Sheehan,  Samuel 
Slesinger,  David  Snellenburg,  J.  J.  Sat- 
terthwaite,  Harry  J.  Stoeckle,  Benjamin 
F.  Shaw,  Thomas  M.  Stayton,  Elwood  C. 
Souder,  Dr.  H.  J.  Stubbs. 

Sylvester  D.  Townsend,  Walter  S.  Tay- 
lor, H.  A.  Thayer,  Jr.,  L.  Scott  Town- 
send, Harry  E.  Thomas,  Henry  M.  Tay- 
lor, Willard  Thomson,  John  E.  Taylor, 
Frank  Taylor,  P.  W.  Tomlinson,  Dr. 
Frank  W.  Talley,  Robert  C.  Tolmie. 

H.  W.  Vandever,  Aubrey  Vandever,  Dr. 
B.  R.  Veasey,  J.  C.  Van  Trump. 

Howard  T.  Wallace,  Lea  P.  Warner, 
James  H.  Wright,  W.  T.  Westbrook, 
George  J.  Wink,  Clarence  E.  Williams, 
James  P.  Winchester,  Samuel  J.  Wrignt, 
Alfred  D.  Warner,  Jr.,  Charles  Warner, 
Colonel  John  Wainwright,  Francis  M. 
Walker,  Gilpin  S.  Woodward,  Captain 
Horace  Wilson,  H.  H.  Ward,  J.  Harvey 
Whiteman,  J.  Frank  Williams,  James 
Wilson,  Frank  Woolley,  A.  D.  Warner, 
John  M.  Walker,  G.  B.  Ward,  Charles  W. 
Woods. 

Hiram  Yerger,  Thomas  E.  Young. 

GREATER  WILMINGTON  AND 

ITS  MANY  ADVANTAGES. 


Exhaustive  Treatment  of  This  Subject 
by  Alfred  0.  Crozier,  a Prominent 
Member  of  the  Local  Board  of  Trade, 
Lawyer  and  Manufacturer. 

Alfred  O.  Crozier,  who  has  taken  such 
an  interest  in  all  affairs  for  the  better- 
ment of  Wilmington  and  the  State,  at 
the  request  of  The  Evening  Journal,  has 
written  the  following  able  article  on 
“Greater  Wilmington:” 


Delaware,  we  believe,  is  the  only  State 
where  personal  property  is  entirely  ex- 
empt from  taxation.  The  income  from 
corporate  franchise  taxes  pays  the  ex- 
pense of  the  State  and  all  local  matters 
are  met  by  the  tax  from  real  estate  and 
licenses.  This  fact  should  be  used  as  a 
powerful  instrument  for  inducing  indus- 
tries to  locate  in  Delaware.  It  is  far 
more  efficacious  than  bonuses,  while  the 
prospect  of  permanent  exemption  from 
personal  taxes  appeals  to  strong  and  ex- 
tensive industries.  There  are  many 
manufactories  paying  $10,000  to  $25,000 
annually  as  personal  taxes,  located  in 
places  with  less  advantages  than  are  here 
available. 

There  are  abundant  instances  of  enter- 
prises moving  from  one  town  to  another 
solely  because  of  assurance  of  exemption 
from  taxation  for  ten  years.  It  is  com- 
mon knowledge  that  some  men  of  finan- 
cial prominence  break  one  law  to  evade 
another,  in  their  desire  to  avoid  paying 
personal  taxes.  They  sometimes  reside 
in  one  State  and  live  in  another,  where 
there  is  a variation  in  the  personal  as- 
sessment rates  in  the  two  states. 
Wilmington’s  Opportunity. 

Time  was  when  the  drift  of  industries 
was  all  towards  the  large  cities.  This 
flood  tide  is  now  ebbing  rapidly.  Bitter 
experience  wrestling  with  unexpected 
and  insurmountable  difficulties  and  con- 
ditions peculiar  only  to  congested  indus- 
trial communities  is  impelling  many  to 
contemplate  removal  to  smaller  cities 
and  towns.  Enhancement  of  the  prices 
of  realty,  even  in  the  suburbs,  of  large 
cities,  makes  the  cost  of  suitable  ground 
prohibitory  to  the  ordinary  establish- 
ment. This  is  especially  so  as  to  small 
enterprises,  which  are  often  the  begin- 
nings of  large  ones.  The  cost  of  homes, 
or  of  rentals,  becomes  so  high  as  to  con- 
stitute an  excessive  burden  on  working- 
men, perhaps  leading  to  poverty  or 
strikes,  or  to  both.  This  condition  pre- 
vails to  considerable  extent  in  Pliiladel- 


43 


phia,  Baltimore,  New  York  and  other 
large  cities  hereabouts. 

It  was  precisely  this  which  gave  Wil- 
mington the  immense  freight  clearing 
house  facilities  of  the  Pennsylvania  rail- 
road, taken  away  from  Philadelphia, 
where  there  was  intolerable  congestion, 
no  room  for  needed  expansion  without 
ruinous  expense  and  with  the  situation 
becoming  worse  every  year.  We  do  not 
know  that  that  railroad  intends  making 
this  place  its  transfer  point  for  export 
and  import  commerce  between  the  inter- 
ior and  foreign  countries,  but  it  is  cer- 
tainly an  ideal  place  for  the  purpose,  and 
for  docks,  grain  elevators  and  ware- 
houses, convenient  to  the  miles  of  stor- 
age and  switching  tracks,  and  past 
which  must  go  every  ocean  boat  to  or 
from  Philadelphia.  We  suspect  that  half 
the  story  of  “Todd’s  Cut”  has  not  yet 
been  told. 

The  Baltimore  ocean  liners  can  also 
run  up  here  from  Delaware  City,  when 
the  Delaware  ship  canal  is  completed, 
and  still  save  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  on  the  trip  to  Europe,  over  the 
hazardous  route  by  way  of  the  Virginia 
capes. 

Wilmington  has  just  what  all  large 
cities  need  and  lack;  that  is,  miles  of  va- 
cant deep  river  frontage,  easily  reached 
by  railroad  switches,  which  land  can  be 
had  for  mere  nominal  prices  in  compari- 
son with  the  cost  of  corresponding  loca- 
tions in  larger  cities.  Every  other  ad- 
vantage offered  by  those  cities  can  be 
had  here,  without  their  disadvantages, 
in  fact  the  immense  river  frontage  of 
Philadelphia  can  be  reached  from  Wil- 
mington by  water  for  a smaller  freight 
charge  than  from  any  suburb  of  that  city 
off  the  river. 

Wilmington  to  Buy  Water  Frontage. 

The  greatest  stroke  of  business  New 
York  city  ever  did  in  the  interest  of  its 
future  development  and  greatness  was 
tne  acquiring  of  the.  title  to  its  river 
frontage.  Wilmington  should  do  the 


same  thing  with  the  Delaware  river 
front,  if  the  industries  of  the  town  are 
to  have  proper  access  to  ocean  boats,  and 
it  is  desired  that  new  industries  be  lo- 
cated here  instead  of  on  the  Delaware 
beyond  the  limits.  It  should  be  made  cer- 
tain that  the  deep  channel  being  dredged 
in  the  Delaware  by  the  Government, 
comes  close  enough  to  this  shore  to  meet 
our  docks;  and  the  dredgings  should  be 
utilized  to  fill  the  marsh  land,  preparing 
it  for  industries,  and  conserving  the  pub- 
lic health. 

With  the  average  freight  charge  per 
ton  per  mile  on  water  only  one-tenth 
what  it  is  by  rail  it  should  be  easy  lo 
show  industries  the  advantage  of  settling 
in  Wilmington. 

Industries  on  our  water  frontage  are 
more  advantageously  located  for  water 
shipment  than  if  in  Philadelphia  or  Balti- 
more. The  boat  lines  from  Philadelphia 
to  North  Atlantic  ports,  and  the  lines 
from  Baltimore  to  South  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  ports,  absorb  and  themselves  pay 
our  local  boat  lines  the  freight  from  the 
factory  dock  in  Wilmington  to  those 
cities,  and  cost  of  transfer,  on  our  ship- 
ments.  Industries  in  those  cities  must 
deliver  shipments  at  the  dock  at  their 
own  expense  and  risk,  by  wagon  or  rail, 
and  cost  of  loading  and  unloading. 

When  these  waterways  are  properly 
deepened  and  improved  so  that  we  can 
have  more  direct  boat  lines  to  the  lead- 
ing foreign  ports,  it  will  be  no  longer 
necessary  for  our  industries  to  ship  goods 
to  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston  by 
rail,  as  they  sometimes  do  now,  to  get 
them  aboard  foreign  bound  boats,  often 
paying  more  freight  to  get  them  to  the 
boat  than  for  transporting  them  by  water 
to  Europe. 

Our  twenty-one  foot  channel,  main- 
tained by  the  government  in  Wilming- 
ton harbor,  with  miles  of  available  front- 
age, is  adequate  for  all  local  purposes. 

Railroad  freights  are  all  based  on  mile- 
age, but  places  on  navigable  waters  are 


i 


44 


classified  specially,  and  given  advantages 
as  to  rates.  No  town  in  the  United 
States  on  navigable  water  is  better  sit- 
uated than  Wilmington  to  reach  the 
largest  number  of  markets  with  the 
shortest  average  haul.  No  place  is  more 
favorably  situated  to  secure  the  neces- 
sary raw  materials. 

The  labor  situation  is  better  here  than 
in  almost  any  other  city,  for  our  labor  is 
intelligent,  a large  portion  being  home- 
owners,  and  there  seems  to  be  that  rea- 
sonable and  conciliatory  spirit  among 
both  employers  and  workmen  which  is 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  each.  No  sec- 
tion of  our  population  is  more  vitally 
interested  in  this  industrial  development 
than  the  workingmen,  for  to  them  it 
means  steady  employment  at  good  wages. 

We  have  neither  time  nor  space  to 
enumerate  the  one  hundred  and  twenty 
different  interests,  and  the  more  than 
six  hundred  concerns,  which  make  up 
the  present  industries  of  Wilmington. 
Many  of  these  are  among  the  largest  in 
the  country,  their  products  ranking  high 
in  the  markets  of  the  world.  There  are 
few  kinds  of  industries  not  found  here. 

This  city,  during  the  past  ten  years, 
produced  more  tonnage  of  iron  and  steel 
vessels  than  the  entire  Pacific  coast,  and 
was  exceeded  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
only  by  Philadelphia  and  Newport  News. 

The  80,000  population  of  Wilmington 
should  easily  be  doubled  in  a few  years, 
benefiting  all  individuals  and  interests. 

All  Delaware  Mutually  Interested. 

Of  course  any  industrial,  commercial 
or  agricultural  development  in  Delaware 
outside  of  Wilmington  will  benefit  this 
city.  Wilmington  is  the  Philadelphia  of 
rural  Delaware.  Everything  which  tends 
to  help  the  southern  part  of  the  State 
benefits  the  entire  State,  Wilmington 
included.  The  State  is  not  so  large  but 
what  every  part  of  it  is  intimately  and 
vitally  interested  in  the  welfare  of  every 
other  part.  If  orchards  multiply  in  Kent 
and  Sussex,  and  good  crops  add  thous- 


ands of  dollars  to  the  income  of  their 
people,  the  merchants  of  this  city  will 
profit  through  this  prosperity  of  their 
brethren.  If  the  industries  of  Wilming- 
ton are  doubled,  this  will  mean  the  sale 
of  more  fruit,  fish  and  farm  products  at 
better  prices  by  the  agricultural  portion 
of  the  State. 

The  influence  of  the  whole  State,  and 
of  its  entire  representation  in  Congress, 
will  be  needed  to  obtain  necessary  water- 
way improvements  in  any  part  of  Dela- 
ware. 

With  the  right  spirit  of  generous  and 
friendly  co-operation  by  the  people  of  all 
localities  in  the  State,  for  the  general 
growth  and  prosperity,  long  strides 
should  be  made  during  the  next  few 
years  towards  industralizing  every  part 
of  Delaware.  No  place  in  the  United 
States  is  better  suited  for  the  purpose, 
and  if  industries  can  be  multiplied  and 
the  rural  and  municipal  population  be 
doubled  everyone  will  participate  in  the 
fruits  of  this  growth,  and  the  momen- 
tum thus  obtained  will  insure  a continu- 
ous and  rapid  increase.  Other  plaees 
with  not  one -half  the  justifying  condi- 
tions have  been  thus  developed  through 
the  wise  action  and  energy  of  public 
spirited  citizens. 

We  have  seen  the  sheer  energy  of  a 
few  people  at  some  point  on  a western 
plain  or  in  some  mountain  valley  in  the 
South,  with  but  one  railroad,  more  than 
five  hundred  miles  from  population  ag- 
gregating more  than  a few  hundred 
thousand,  actually  secure  important  in- 
dustries, often  resulting  in  permanent 
growth.  Many  large  cities  and  towns 
started  in  that  way. 

There  are  but  few  things  an  industry 
desires  which  are  not  found  here,  while 
millions  of  people  and  some  of  the  lead- 
ing markets  of  this  country  are  within 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  Wilming- 
ton, and  a hundred  million  in  Europe  are 
easily  accessible  from  our  water  front. 
But  we  must  remember  of  old,  that  it 


45 


was  the  party  who  used  his  talents,  and 
not  the  one  simply  possessing  them,  who 
received  the  commendation  of  the  master. 

Personal  modesty  is  one  of  the  vir- 
tues; but  the  business  modesty  which 
hides  desirable  wares  from  view,  or  neg- 
lects to  exploit  the  merits  of  things 
which  will  bring  profits,  is  out  of  place 
in  this  era  of  close  competition  anu 
struggle  for  business  success. 

This  State  occupies  the  real  runway  of 
big  opportunities.  She  has  but  to  seize 
them  for  her  own  advantage,  for  they 
will  not  themselves  stop  and  crawl  into 
her  bag.  The  aggregate  of  the  advan- 
tages of  many  a state  with  ten  times  the 
area  and  population  will  not  equal  those 
which  Delaware  possesses  by  nature 
through  her  peculiar  location  and  en- 
vironments. 

Delaware  Ship  Canal. 

The  best  possible  means  of  getting  the 
unexcelled  advantages  of  this  locality 


before  the  entire  country  will  be  the  con- 
struction of  the  Delaware  ship  canal  as 
a public  enterprise  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. It  will  bring  a flood  of  in- 
quiries, leading  to  investigation,  which 
must  result  in  factory  and  population 
immigration.  When  the  digging  of  this 
canal  is  followed  by  making  a govern- 
ment ship  canal  of  the  one  now  connect- 
ing Delaware  river  with  New  York  har- 
bor, both  canals  being  open  to  all  with- 
out tolls,  this  State,  being  midway  of 
this  great  system  of  inland  navigation, 
and  near  the  coal  supply,  will  be  the  best 
situated  of  any  for  cheap  production  and 
distribution. 

To  even  a casual  observer  there  is 
every  indication  that  the  people  of  Wil- 
mington see  their  opportunity  and  intend 
to  loyally  and  energetically  co-operate 
with  each  other  in  the  interest  of  them- 
selves, the  city  and  the  State,  pulling  to- 
gether for  Delaware. — Wilmington  Even- 
ing Journal. 


i 


5 


s 


I 


I- 


- 


